Airliners-India.com

Nis · Member Joined: 23 Jan 2013 Posts: 17 Location: India

Was reading a thread on Airliners.net and read that VT-ANI (787 Dreamliner) hasn't flown since April 2014.

Any idea what is happening with it?

747-237 · Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 4:03 pm Post subject:

747-237 · Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 11:08 pm Post subject:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Air-India-plans-to-reintroduce-Mangalore-Kuwait-operations/articleshow/40936463.cms

Air India plans to reintroduce Mangalore - Kuwait operations

Aug 26, 2014

Plan to reintroduce operations from Mangalore to Kuwait is taking shape. The flights that were cancelled ostensibly due to lack of leased aircraft on part of Air India Express is now all set to restart in the Winter schedule of the national carrier. The flight will operate on the Bahrain-Kuwait-Mangalore route.

"As I informed you over phone on Friday evening, it has been planned to reintroduce the link between Mangalore and Kuwait three times a week effective 27 th October 2014, i.e from the start of the Winter 2014 schedule. The routing of the flight will be Mangalore- Bahrain - Kuwait - Mangalore. The flight from Mangalore to Kuwait has been planned to be operated on Monday, Wednesday and Friday departing from Mangalore at 7.30am and reaching Kuwait via Bahrain at 11.15am (local time). In the return direction the flight from Kuwait to Mangalore will operate non-stop leaving Kuwait at 12.15pm local time and arrive into Mangalore at 19.25 hours local time,"
_________________
11000 posts (and counting) on Airliners-India.

Nis · Member Joined: 23 Jan 2013 Posts: 17 Location: India

747-237 · Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 6:07 am Post subject:

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/indore/new-indore-dubai-flight-likely-to-fly-via-mumbai-or-delhi/article1-1256680.aspx

New Indore-Dubai flight likely to fly via Mumbai or Delhi

August 26, 2014

The first international flight from Indore to Dubai slated to start by the year end will not be a direct flight but will go via Mumbai or Delhi. The passenger traffic is not sufficient to make the direct Indore-Dubai flight financially viable, say experts.
_________________
11000 posts (and counting) on Airliners-India.

747-237 · Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 6:09 am Post subject:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/India-Business/Air-India-notice-to-subsidiarys-CEO-seeks-explanation-for-Faulty-aircraft/articleshow/40961441.cms

Air India notice to subsidiary's CEO seeks explanation for Faulty aircraft

Aug 27, 2014

The Air India management on Tuesday issued a show cause notice to the CEO of its engineering subsidiary over the large number of faulty aircraft being grounded in recent days and unusually large delays caused by snags. The notice was issued to AI Engineering Services Ltd (AIESL) CEO H R Jaganath after last week saw as many as 10 planes — five Airbus A-320s, three to four Dreamliners and one other aircraft —being grounded on a single day.

"The problem of snags delaying planes has been worsening. Every day we have some flights being delayed due to snags not being rectified in time or plane being released for flight without the existing fault being rectified. While none of these are safety issues, they delay flight and inconvenience passengers. Given the gravity of the problem, we decided to issue the notice to the head of AIESL," said a senior official. AIESL was among the two subsidiaries carved out of AI, with the other being for ground handling.

Things came to a head last week when an unprecedented thing happened — two engine failures within a space of 10 hours. A 1989-era Airbus A-320 took off from Kochi for Delhi on last Thursday and got an engine fire warning within seconds of getting airborne. Thanks only to the commander's superb handling, the fully loaded plane returned to Kochi safely despite being way above the maximum landing weight.

And on Friday morning, another A-320 winging its way from Delhi to Ahmedabad had to land in Jaipur due to engine failure. "Airlines don't witness engine failures in years and AI saw two in 10 hours! This is unheard of," said a source.

AI had to crack the whip this time as aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju had recently warned the Maharaja to improve his on time performance (OTP), in a 28-point missive issued to the airline on August 11.

Flight delays have become common in AI. On Tuesday itself, at least three AI planes saw serious delays. Two 1989-era Airbus A-320s were grounded in the morning. The Australia flight saw a lot of drama as passengers were kept seated inside a roasted-in-Delhi-summer Dreamliner for hours as the plane's AC was not working. Later when passengers protested, they were taken to the terminal till the plane was fit to fly.

"The problem is that once an aircraft develops a snag, passengers are kept seated inside the aircraft as AIESL tries to resolve the snag and avoid further delay that would be caused by making passengers alight from the plane and then board again. Hence, engineers keep saying that the fault will be rectified shortly while it may often take much longer and lead to passenger protests like on Tuesday they rebelled against being made to sit in an aircraft with no AC on a hot Delhi summer afternoon," said another source.

_________________
11000 posts (and counting) on Airliners-India.

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 11:00 am Post subject:

^The article above is obviously laced with the typical shoddy journalism all around, but nothing about those old A320s surprises me anymore. If some are indeed from 1989, it's about time they were done away with.
_________________
Yeah.

The_Goat · Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 1:36 pm Post subject:

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 2:02 pm Post subject:

By the way, here's the deal with the Rs. 100/- fares.

And in typical fashion not too dissimilar to its railway counterpart, the website seems to have stalled altogether.
_________________
Yeah.

vvk106 · Member Joined: 19 Apr 2008 Posts: 38 Location: nagpur

The air india website is still down Very Happy

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

I do not remember which thread I read this on: given that I have logged in to the site after a very long time, but here is news regarding Srinivas's question (if I remember correctly). VT-IWA went back into operation about a month back after the engine cowl was repaired). The first few days, she did the DEL-BLR domestic legs, and complemented the B77L (VT-ALT) well ex-DEL, handling the high capacity domestic legs with Dream)liner niggles. IWA is now active on the BOM-MAA-SIN route. For all of us enthusiasts looking forward to flying these elderly birds with the unique underfloor lavatory complex: they will be returned to the leasor around October, and will not be leased in again, from what I hear. There will be more Dream)liners around hopefully, and Air India is expanding Dream)liner routes in a relatively conservative manner, owing to the Dream)liner niggles.
Cheers, Sumantra.

747-237 · Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2014 5:55 am Post subject:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/air-india-wants-boeing-to-give-more-compensation-for-the-grounding-of-dreamliners/articleshow/41042382.cms

Air India wants Boeing to give more compensation for the grounding of Dreamliners

28 Aug, 2014

Perturbed by the recurring glitches in its Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet, Air India's management has asked Boeing to compensate for the grounding of the aircraft due to these problems and the subsequent loss of revenue because of bad publicity. These compensations would be over and above the demand for initial deliveries not being as fuel-efficient as promised, which is being negotiated.

Air India (AI) asked for this compensation in its meeting with Dinesh Keskar, senior vice-president, Boeing India, in the beginning of August. "The faults with Dreamliners are just refusing to die and we are facing a lot of losses due to aircraft on the ground, adverse publicity in media that takes away a lot of our passengers. We have asked Boeing to compensate us for the same," said a senior AI official.

He added that an executive representing the AI management, in its meeting with Keskar, showed him a file that was a compilation of media reportage over Dreamliner glitches in India.

"Every media report over Dreamliner glitches is adverse publicity for us, as we are trying to market Dreamliner as a product. Adverse publicity of the product discourages passengers from booking with us," the official said.

"The availability of spares also led to grounding of the aircraft for longer periods. We have asked Boeing to make spares available at all destinations where Dreamliners are operated by us," said the official.
_________________
11000 posts (and counting) on Airliners-India.

747-237 · Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 7:06 am Post subject:

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

747-237 · Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 8:32 pm Post subject:

http://rtn.asia/d-r/8388/air-india-accuses-media-of-trying-to-demoralize-its-staff

Air India accuses media of trying to demoralize its staff

August 29, 2014

In an unusually strong statement, India’s state airline Air India, which has been trying to make a comeback after mounting losses, accused a section of the media of spreading negative and baseless news against it to prevent its re-emergence.

During Air India’s times of trouble, the Indian domestic aviation market has been captured by private sector players who have, over time, built up a good rapport with journalists. Air India, being a government company, has not been as successful as private airlines in building relationships with media people.

Air India’s accusation came in the wake of alleged reports that the company, which is being run with the help of taxpayer money, spent crores of rupees on organizing an “Air India Day”.

Air India said the total amount spent was around Rs 10 lakhs and the event was meant to boost employee morale.

“The reporting is totally baseless, mischievous and devoid of truth… The function was intended to felicitate our brave employees who have shown exemplary courage and devotion to the duty while going on rescue operations to bring back hundreds of our countrymen from the conflict zone in Iraq and Libya… While AI is trying to regain its past glory with hard earned successes in the recent time, there is a concerted effort on the part of a section of media to derail and demoralise our promise to success.”

It said the reason for the function was felicitate its courageous pilots who have conducted emergency landing while the aircraft was on fire.

“All this was intended to instill a sense of pride and confidence in our workforce who are slowly coming out of low morale over the period of difficult days in the company.”

It said some parts of the media was “showing undue harshness and resorting to biased, concocted, baseless and demeaning reporting in recent days to malign our reputations particularly when AI is showing definite promise.”

“All participants in the cultural function were talents of employees of the company only. No outside artist was associated with the program. All outstation employees participated in the function were accommodated in the hotel owned by AI subsidiary. AI deplores and condemns biased media reporting particularly when it is farthest from the truth. AI is also exploring to take up the issue to appropriate forum.”

It added that it was fully aware of its responsibilities towards the judicious use of tax payer’s money. “We are always committed to serve the nation to the best of our capabilities. It is to uphold the tradition of Air India to rise to the occasion whenever the nation demands even putting at risk the lives of our brave staffs including pilots, cabin crews, engineers and ground staffs that after so many years Air India decided to organise Air India day on 27th August, 2014.”
_________________
11000 posts (and counting) on Airliners-India.

747-237 · Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 8:32 pm Post subject:

http://www.airindia.in/newsdetail.htm?517

Clarification from Headquarters to media

August 29, 2014

A canard is being spread by a section of press media about splurging crores of rupees on organising a function recently to coincide with the Air India Day. The reporting is totally baseless, mischievous and devoid of truth. It is reiterated that Air India is fully aware of its responsibilities towards the judicious use of tax payer’s money and we are always committed to serve the nation to the best of our capabilities. It is to uphold the tradition of Air India to rise to the occasion whenever the nation demands even putting at risk the lives of our brave staffs including pilots, cabin crews, engineers and ground staffs that after so many years Air India decided to organise Air India day on 27th August, 2014.

The function was intended to felicitate our brave employees who have shown exemplary courage and devotion to the duty while going on rescue operations to bring back hundreds of our countrymen from the conflict zone in Iraq and Libya. Also AI wanted to honour our courageous pilots who have efficiently negotiated emergency landing while the aircraft was on fire. All this was intended to instill a sense of pride and confidence in our workforce who are slowly coming out of low morale over the period of difficult days in the company. It was perfectly timed to celebrate our entry into Star Alliance ushering an era of improved product of AI on a global platform. We also felicitated our business partners for their continued support in our difficult period.

While AI is trying to regain its past glory with hard earned successes in the recent time, there is a concerted effort on the part of a section of media to derail and demoralise our promise to success. This section is showing undue harshness and resorting to biased, concocted, baseless and demeaning reporting in recent days to malign our reputations particularly when AI is showing definite promise. A canard has been spread by a section of vested media that crores were spent on the function, whereas the fact is that the total expenditure on the occasion was just around Rs.10 lacs.
_________________
11000 posts (and counting) on Airliners-India.

747-237 · Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 8:33 pm Post subject:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/air-india-website-blocked-by-a-few-sites-in-india-abroad/articleshow/41200103.cms

Air India website blocked by a few sites in India, abroad

29 Aug, 2014

Air India's website, which went down two days ago after the airline offered a special fare of Rs 100, was apparently blocked by a few sites in India and abroad for a considerable time.

An unprecedented 80,000 hits a minute were recorded from some sites which blocked bookings by genuine passengers, the national carrier's Information Technology (IT) team found during internal investigations.

The IT team identified at least four sites in India, four in the United States and one in Singapore, which were blocking others from getting into the ticket booking engine, airline sources said.

The massive hits led the website's NIC server to turn erratic, they said. Almost all Indian-government websites are developed and managed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC).

Following the massive load on its website, the airline increased the number of its servers from four to eight, the sources said, adding a large number of tickets were sold at the offered rate but did not elaborate.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, the national carrier had apologised to its "customers who tried to access our website during the last few hours. We are experiencing some technical problem with our servers and doing everything to minimise the amount of time necessary to restore our website."

Regarding its celebrations on August 27, Air India condemned "biased" reports that it had spent huge amounts of taxpayers' money on the event. Its unions like the Air Corporation Employees Union and Aviation Industry Employees' Guild also deplored these reports and supported the management on the matter.

An official release said the airline was also "exploring" to take up the issue at an appropriate forum.
_________________
11000 posts (and counting) on Airliners-India.

747-237 · Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2014 11:29 pm Post subject:

Aseem · Member Joined: 15 Dec 2006 Posts: 2841 Location: YYZ

looks like a very major repair.. can anybody update me on that.

VT-ASJ
_________________
[url=http://openflights.org/user/aseemsjohri]

[/url]

747-237 · Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 12:38 am Post subject:

HAWK21M · Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 3:24 pm Post subject:

Vertical stablizer installation in the open....... Wink

_________________
Think of the Brighter side !!!

747-237 · Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 8:14 pm Post subject:

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 4:32 pm Post subject:

747-237 · Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2014 1:48 am Post subject:

http://www.livemint.com/Companies/hn4q9Hyha7ggXvz3NG1IEO/Air-India-mulls-REIT-IPO-to-raise-funds.html

Air India mulls REIT IPO to raise funds

Sep 03 2014

Air India is considering spinning off its real estate assets into a real estate investment trust (REIT) and list it on the stock exchanges in a move that could give the company significant tax breaks and also improve its finances.
_________________
11000 posts (and counting) on Airliners-India.

747-237 · Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2014 5:40 am Post subject:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/India-Business/AI-to-use-Dreamliners-on-metro-routes-in-peak-hours/articleshow/41638092.cms

AI to use Dreamliners on metro routes in peak hours

Sep 4, 2014

AI has thrown an ace in this game by deciding to fly the twin-aisle widebody Dreamliner on metro routes in the morning and evening peak hours. Till now, it was operating the Boeing 787 on Delhi-Kolkata and Delhi-Bangalore routes alone. From Monday, it stepped up flights on this aircraft with the aim of covering all six metros in coming weeks — or right before Vistara is launched by mid-October.

"Jet and Vistara will have single aisle narrow body Boeing 737 and Airbus A-320, respectively, on domestic routes. We, in addition to our A-320s, will have the B-787 that has full flat business class and bigger economy seats each with its own in-flight entertainment system. In the peak morning and evening travel time, this luxury will be available at the same price at which our competition will be giving much less. This move will be a game changer," said an official.

AI did a detailed cost benefit analysis of deploying the made-for-international-routes B-787 on domestic routes. "These planes will fly between metros in the morning and evening time when they are not going overseas. Their mainstay will be international flight but their domestic usage will be increased in the hours they would have remained idle, increasing the sweating of assets," said an official

_________________
11000 posts (and counting) on Airliners-India.

ameya · Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2014 7:52 am Post subject:

key words - "increasing sweating of assets" Shocked

"made-for-international-routes"

Question

_________________
www.networkthoughts.com

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2014 10:22 am Post subject:

Not a bad ploy, AI. Assuming the majority of the 787s are based at DEL, most of these flights will originate and terminate only out there though, aside from exceptions like BOM-MAA onwards to SIN, which is an international run in any case.
_________________
Yeah.

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2014 11:55 am Post subject:

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

747-237 · Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 12:57 am Post subject:

http://www.hindustantimes.com/business-news/ai-to-transfer-70-b777-pilots-to-low-cost-arm/article1-1260142.aspx

AI to transfer 70 B777 pilots to low-cost arm

September 05, 2014

Air India (AI) has decided to transfer 70 Boeing 777 pilots to its low-cost international arm — the AI Express.

The move will help the national carrier overcome the severe shortage of pilots faced by AI Express and at the same time put to optimal use B777 pilots whose flying had been reduced to a great extent with AI selling five of its B777 aircraft to Etihad. AI has plans to lease or sell another three B777 aircraft, which is a long haul aircraft.

“AI Express has a fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft and conversion from B777 to the narrow body B737 can be done easily. With this single move, we will solve two big problems,” a senior AI official, who did not wish to be named, said. The proposal, sources said, has been cleared by the airline’s board.

“Except for the ultra long-haul flights to the US, we are using the B787 Dreamliner on most international routes. All international flights are operated using the Dreamliner,” said another official, who too did not wish to be quoted. “AI Express had been facing a shortage of pilots while competition from foreign and domestic airlines for traffic to Gulf had been increasing. With more pilots, pressure should ease a bit,” the official added.

_________________
11000 posts (and counting) on Airliners-India.

The_Goat · Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 2:12 am Post subject:

ameya · Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 2:22 am Post subject:

Few flights upgraded to 787

AI764 DEL-CCU
AI23 CCU-DEL

AI403 DEL-BLR
AI404 BLR-DEL
_________________
www.networkthoughts.com

iah87 · Member Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 2566

[quote="747-237"]http://www.livemint.com/Companies/hn4q9Hyha7ggXvz3NG1IEO/Air-India-mulls-REIT-IPO-to-raise-funds.html

Air India mulls REIT IPO to raise funds

Sep 03 2014

Air India is considering spinning off its real estate assets into a real estate investment trust (REIT) and list it on the stock exchanges in a move that could give the company significant tax breaks and also improve its finances.[/quote

What taxes ? AI never has to pay taxes since they are always losing money, instead of paying they are receiving tax payer money. The only good thing this REIT is to shift some liabilities to the REIT.

If the REIT makes money, it will make AI look even worse, but if it their strategy to cut some of the bloated workforce to thwart union demands, then may be it is a good idea.

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

vivekman · Member Joined: 26 Dec 2006 Posts: 1897 Location: BOM

vivekman · Member Joined: 26 Dec 2006 Posts: 1897 Location: BOM

Nimish · Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 11:57 am Post subject:

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 12:51 pm Post subject:

jbalonso777 · Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 4:49 pm Post subject: