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The_Goat · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 1:16 pm Post subject:

Visa fiasco: Air India crew spend 18 hours in Russian detention

NEW DELHI: The cabin crew of Air India's Delhi-Moscow flight had to cool their heels in detention at Domodedovo Airport on Saturday for close to 18 hours before being allowed to enter the city.

The air hostesses had been granted Russian visas effective Sunday but the airline sent them a day before, without checking the basic detail of their travel documents.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Visa-fiasco-Air-India-crew-spend-18-hours-in-Russian-detention/articleshow/42400524.cms

and one would think that an airline with so many years of experience with crew visa issues wouldn't goof up on something so simple Laughing

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I don't know which is the more pampered bunch : AI's widebodies (the aunties) or Jet's widebodies (the planes).
-Jasepl

747-237 · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 6:25 pm Post subject:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Kochi/Air-India-Express-to-start-7-new-Gulf-flights/articleshow/42453591.cms

Air India Express to start 7 new Gulf flights

Sep 14, 2014

Air India Express (AIE) will introduce seven new flights to the Gulf countries from Trivandrum, Cochin, Calicut and Mangalore airports. From October 26, the airline will introduce an additional weekly flight each from Trivandrum and Cochin to Muscat, two direct flights from Calicut to Doha and three weekly flights on the Mangalore-Bahrain-Kuwait route.

Shyam Sundar, chief executive officer of Air India Charters Ltd, which manages AIE, said this was made possible by augmenting the aircraft utilization period from 9.5 hours to 10.5 hours per day in the new schedule.

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747-237 · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 6:26 pm Post subject:

http://www.livemint.com/Companies/Li5TCHHhpAGiiRJvaq7BEP/Air-India-may-send-pilots-to-fill-shortfall-in-Express-servi.html

Air India may send pilots to fill shortfall in Express service

Air India may send pilots to fill shortfall in Express service

Sep 14 2014.

Air India Ltd’s board has cleared a proposal to send its pilots on deputation to its budget arm, Air India Express, which has been facing shortage of commanders for some time now, people close to the matter said on Sunday.

The move would help Air India, which may face a surplus of pilots as the airline’s Boeing 777-200 LR fleet is being phased out and shrinking, the people said.

Air India earlier used to send its pilots on deputation to Air India Express (AIE), but stopped the practice after a two-month strike by pilots in May-June 2012.

“The board recently approved the proposal, paving the way for AI (Air India) pilots to join AIE,” a person with knowledge of the matter said in Mumbai.

AIE’s has had a shortage of pilots for a long time, which has led to at least three or four of its 17 aircraft always remaining on ground, the people mentioned earlier said.

Besides which, Air India and AIE top brass were keen to have in-house talent as a cheaper option rather than going to the market to meet the shortage.

“The idea was mooted several times with the airline management but did not find favour primarily due to the two-month strike by the pilots owing allegiance to the now de-recognized Indian Pilots Guild,” the people said.

Air India has already sold five of its eight Boeing 777-200 LRs to Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways and has floated tenders to sell the remaining ones.

“The phasing out of these planes is leaving surplus pilots with the carrier who will now be adjusted in AIE. Besides, it will also help Air India pilots in getting command positions earlier than in the parent company. So, the move will benefit Air India and AIE as also the pilots,” the people said.

AIE will require around 50 more pilots to operate its entire fleet of 17 aircraft, the people said, adding that it will be better since the airline was planning to induct eight more Boeing 737-800s in the fleet to get back to the original size of 26 aircraft.
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iah87 · Member Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 2566

747-237 · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 10:04 pm Post subject:

The_Goat · Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 2:00 am Post subject:

drpiru · Member Joined: 07 Feb 2008 Posts: 156 Location: LBA

[quote="sumantra"]

Thanks Sumantra Sir.
Will try to do a TR this time-since I'm traveling alone-rather than with my infant son!

Any idea about Indonesia Visa?

airbus340 · Member Joined: 16 Oct 2009 Posts: 465

747-237 · Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 3:53 pm Post subject:

stealthpilot · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 2325 Location: BLR, DXB

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

basheer1211 · Member Joined: 28 Dec 2012 Posts: 271 Location: India

747-237 · Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 7:40 pm Post subject:

http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/air-india-to-axe-more-loss-making-routes-114091500866_1.html

Air India to axe more loss-making routes

September 15, 2014

Air India (AI) aims to substantially cut the number of routes not meeting variable costs, to reduce these to 19% of its overall network by the end of the current financial year.

The carrier, which operates about 480 daily flights in the international and domestic sectors, had brought down the number of routes not meeting variable costs to 38% of its network by the end of 2013-14, from 60%.

A senior official said, "We have completely withdrawn flights not meeting ATF (aviation turbine fuel) costs. While there would be flights in which we would not be able to generate operational profits, we are looking at meeting cash costs on 81% of our network by the end of this financial year."

Chairman and Managing Director Rohit Nandan is daily monitoring the route economics. The analysis is also being done at the board of directors every week.

AI registers variable cost losses on 19 routes, six of which are international ones. The domestic ones include Mumbai-Kolkata and Delhi-Bangalore; the international ones include Delhi-Sydney and Delhi-Milan.
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Nimish · Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2014 3:04 pm Post subject:

Interesting - esp. in light of BLR-DEL getting the axe. If 6E can run 7-8 daily non-stops, 9W 7 daily, surprising to hear that AI is struggling to run 4 daily flights. Even stranger is the decision to upgauge the night flight to a 788 if these flights are not earning their keep.
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We miss you Nalini!

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

Jaysit · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 4346

More 787s joining their older, big brother 777s on the tarmac for a bakefest.

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

ameya · Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 12:12 am Post subject:

My hotel doesnt allow me to post on A-I Sad

So I find time at work to do this. The routes wasnt a surprise for me. Of the profitability details I know, G8 and SG struggle a lot on DEL-BLR sectors and have periodically reduced services. At one point, G8 had only one daily each way - currently it is two. So was the case with SG when it pulled out these sectors when the aircraft went to Europe on wet lease. 6E makes it work on scale and so does 9W - scale + business traffic.

Looks like AI does not get business traffic on this sector and hence survival is an issue. It is a very long flight. For the same reason I wondered how I5 & 6E are going to make BLR-IXC work.

An even bigger problem is BOM-CCU, where the traffic is much lesser than DEL-BLR.

If AI does not have a plan for the Dreamliners - the 27 of them are not going to go anywhere, they cannot be adding and removing stations for the n-th time now
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Nimish · Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 12:39 am Post subject:

^^ Perhaps the lack of business traffic is hurting AI the most on the DEL-BLR sector - most business travelers prefer even 6E over AI - the main reason being consistency and OTP.
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We miss you Nalini!

747-237 · Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 3:46 am Post subject:

http://www.livemint.com/Companies/VbDZ5j0cykzCGrTxTNoESL/Air-India-in-600-mn-deal-for-sale-and-leaseback-of-five-Dre.html

Air India in $600 mn deal for sale and leaseback of five Dreamliners

Germany’s Deutsche Bank will buy four planes while UK’s Investec will buy one, helping the carrier generate more revenue

Sep 16 2014

Air India Ltd, which has a debt of Rs.40,000 crore, has struck a deal with German lender Deutsche Bank AG and the UK’s Investec Bank for selling and leasing back five Boeing B787 Dreamliner planes in a $600 million deal.

According to two Air India executives, who asked not to be identified, Deutsche Bank will buy four planes while Investec will buy one.

Air India is also leasing at least 30 planes to compete with domestic and international rivals.

The state-owned airline has leased five Airbus A320 planes from China Aircraft Leasing Group Holdings Ltd for domestic operations with a single-class configuration, said the first Air India executive. China Aircraft Leasing did not reply to emails seeking comment. Air India has plans to bring in another 17 Airbus A320 aircraft to boost its domestic operations.

The executive said the airline has also leased two small ATR-72 planes from a UK firm and three such planes from General Electric Co.’s aircraft leasing unit. These five small planes would used for Alliance Air, the regional airline unit of Air India.

“We are also looking at leasing seven Boeing 737 planes for our international budget airline Air India Express. All these planes would be single-class economy configuration to compete with low-fare airlines of India and abroad,” the second executive said.
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sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Jaysit · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 4346

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

The_Goat · Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 2:00 pm Post subject:

DEL-Italy was never going to be high yielding.

The high yielding traffic between India and Italy is all between the business and fashion hubs of the two countries, BOM and MXP. Nowhere else.

A good idea would be to route the flight as DEL-BOM-MXP. FCO can be dropped as it is merely a low yielding tourist spot.

By the way, which are the other loss making international flights, besides Italy and Australia? My guesses

DEL-DME
DEL-HKG-ICN/KIX (Particularly the HKG-ICN/KIX segment)
ATQ-DEL-BHX (This should be the mother of all loss makers, if not the father)
DEL-FRA (This can be improved if they change the timings to offer more connections on LH from FRA).

Possibly also the 744 flights to JED from CCJ and HYD. The F and J classes go empty on these sectors.
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I don't know which is the more pampered bunch : AI's widebodies (the aunties) or Jet's widebodies (the planes).
-Jasepl

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

ameya · Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 7:55 pm Post subject:

I doubt AI will withdraw flights on the metro sector. What would help is rationalizing flights on the LKO-DED, IXD,KNU sectors - either get it right in terms of frequency or aircraft type or just do away with these flights. There is ample majority now to not listen to the local MP
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747-237 · Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 2:11 am Post subject:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mangalore/AIE-achieves-marginal-increase-in-capacity-despite-reduction-in-fleet-size/articleshow/42736015.cms

AIE achieves marginal increase in capacity despite reduction in fleet size

Sep 17, 2014

Despite a reduction in Air India Express' fleet size by four aircraft units during the current fiscal owing to return of leased aircraft, airline managed to achieve marginal increase in capacity offered by it in terms of available seat kilometres (ASK) through more intensive utilization of its aircraft resources.

Significantly, AIE's passenger load factor grew by 3.4% over previous fiscal going up from 81.7% achieved during April - August 2013 to 84.1% during the corresponding period in the current fiscal.

Consequently, AI Express recorded 4% growth in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK), the unit of measurement of capacity utilization, against an increase of 1% increase in the ASK produced during the period April - August 2014. The growth in RPK coupled with increase in unit yields resulting in the airline recording a 19% increase in passenger revenues during the period. Based on revenue performance recorded during the above period, AIE is well on its way to exceed the targeted revenues projected for the current fiscal which is Rs 2,400 crore.

AI Express has carried over 1.2 million passengers during this period and well on its way to exceed the passenger carriage target of 2.4 million for the fiscal year. The two main factors that have contributed to airline's excellent performance have been - high schedule reliability of over 99% and improvement in on-time performance. In fact, the on-time performance of the flights operated out of the stations in Kerala has been over 90% during this period.

Other product/service enhancements implemented in the current fiscal are the launch of a 24x7 dedicated multi lingual call centre service to improve accessibility to its services and the optional facility for passengers to pre-reserve seats of their choice on the Airline's flights.

The airline is one of few low cost carriers in the world to offer free hot food service which has been well received by travelling public. In order to upgrade this value addition, its catering department will hold food presentations across the various markets throughout India and uplift food which caters to the local palette.
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747-237 · Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 2:12 am Post subject:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Mangalore/Air-India-Express-reintroduces-Mangalore-Kuwait-link-via-Bahrain-in-its-winter-schedule/articleshow/42735905.cms

Air India Express reintroduces Mangalore-Kuwait link via Bahrain in its winter schedule

Sep 17, 2014

Air India Express plans to reintroduce the link between Mangalore and Kuwait in the winter schedule starting from October 26. AI Express has planned to further increase the utilization of its aircraft and consequently operate 166 flights/week as compared to 159/week being operated currently. Flights from Mangalore to Kuwait had been discontinued in February 14 due to the grounding of the leased planes preparatory to their return.

The three-times a week flights from Mangalore to Kuwait planned in the Airline's winter schedule will operate in a triangular manner covering Bahrain. Days of operation will be Monday, Wednesday and Friday with departure from Mangalore to Kuwait at 7.30am and arrival at Bahrain at 9.20am. It will depart Bahrain at 10.15am and arrive in Kuwait at 11.15am. In the return direction, the flight from Kuwait will operate directly to Mangalore.

The flight will leave Kuwait at 12.15pm and arrive at Mangalore at 7.25pm.

With the introduction of flights to Kuwait via Bahrain, AIE flights between Mangalore and Doha will become non-stop and the two non-stop flights per week are scheduled to be operated on Thursday and Saturday respectively. The flight will depart from Mangalore at 6.05pm and arrive into Doha at 7.55pm. In the return direction, the flights from Doha to Mangalore will leave Doha at 10.30am and reach Mangalore at 5.05pm, a communique from AIE stated.
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Jaysit · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 4346

This airline would make losses even if they had a fleet of magic aircraft using golgappa pani as fuel.

Useless bunch.

747-237 · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 7:06 pm Post subject:

http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/air-india-chalks-out-two-pronged-strategy-to-up-share-in-domestic-skies-114091900807_1.html

Air India chalks out two-pronged strategy to up share in domestic skies

787 Dreamliners will be deployed for corporate travellers and A320s would be used for economy passengers

September 19, 2014

Air India will deploy 787 Dreamliners to draw in corporate travellers on domestic routes. Meanwhile, the 19 787 Dreamliners will be deployed for corporate travellers and A320s would be used for economy passengerss the airline is in the process of leasing would be utilised to add more capacity and services for economy class passengers.

Air India Chairman Rohit Nandan said: "We are looking at utilising the 787s more optimally by deploying them more on domestic routes. There are many airlines which use A380s for 2-3 hour flights now (it is meant to be used for long-haul flights of eight hours). World over the economics of operating an aircraft is important. If you use larger aircraft on short-haul routes, the engine wears off faster. As long as that is factored in while working out the route economics and you make money, its fine. Our route economics analysis takes into account the expenses incurred in maintenance of engines."

Nandan, however, clarified the airline in not looking at deploying the Dreamliners on domestic routes in response to competition, "We are not responding to competition we have been thinking of this for some time. The 787 on domestic routes will be a game changer and will appeal to corporate clientele. We will charge the same as others in business class and offer a better product. It will offer better service and this is our USP", he informed.

Additionally, Air India is also in the process of leasing 19 A320s to increase capacity for economy travel. "We will also intensify the use of A320s to other destinations. We have a whole network ready to be exploited. We could not do so earlier because of insufficient aircraft", added Nandan.

The 19 A320s being leased will replace a similar number of older aircraft the airline has in its fleet. However, the new aircraft to be flown in all-economy configuration will offer more capacity of 180 seats. The aircraft being phased out currently offer between 144 and 168 seats.

Air India currently has 62 Airbus family aircraft (mix of A319s, A320s and A321s), used on domestic routes and some short haul routes. Air India flies 16 Boeing 787s and flies these to Europe, Japan, Singapore and Dubai. It also uses them on two domestic routes, Delhi-Kolkata and Delhi-Bangalore. It has 27 Boeing 787s on order and is expecting three additional planes till March 2015. It is expected to use these to ply on other metro routes.
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747-237 · Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 5:59 am Post subject:

Air India’s insurance contract up for renewal on October 1 for an estimated $25 million

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/air-indias-insurance-contract-up-for-renewal-on-october-1-for-an-estimated-25-million/articleshow/43113261.cms
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Spiderguy252 · Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 11:12 am Post subject:

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

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 11:51 am Post subject:

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

747-237 · Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 3:37 pm Post subject:

Jeh · Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 5:20 pm Post subject:

The_Goat · Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 5:48 pm Post subject: