Air India

Air India pilots get more time to accept revised compensation structure

Air India has around 1,800 pilots and a significant chunk of them are yet to sign the revised contracts, according to the report

Air India returns to deboard unruly passenger from Delhi-London flight

Air India on Monday deboarded an unruly passenger from its Delhi-London flight, which returned to the national capital, according to sources. The sources said flight AI 111, which had around 225 passengers, returned to the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) here as there was an unruly male passenger onboard. The unruly passenger was deboarded at the airport and later the flight took off for London Heathrow, they added. A statement from Air India on the incident was awaited.

Tata insurance arm, others to provide $10-billion cover to Air India

The airline will be paying a premium of $30 million (Rs 246 crore) for the financial year beginning April 1 - same as the previous financial year

Air India building's high-flying days with a legacy changeover in order

India's first escalator, its shortest elevator, a terror attack, a rescue operation, the building's seen a lot

Air India Express, AirAsia India focus on common check-in systems

The launch of the new website was enabled by the migration to a common reservations and check-in system, which now unifies the entire commercial ecosystem of the two airlines

Air India plane's engine blade found damaged after landing in Kolkata

One of the engine blades of an Air India plane was found to be damaged after it landed in Kolkata on Monday morning, said officials who suspect that it was caused by a bird hit. A blade on the right engine of the plane, Airbus A320, which arrived here from Mumbai, was found to be bent during checks after boarding was complete for its return journey, they said. Air India flight AI675 landed in Kolkata around 8.20 am, after taking off from Mumbai at 6.16 am, they said. For its return journey to Mumbai, a total of 119 passengers boarded the plane (AI676) from Kolkata. There were also six cabin crew on the plane, which was preparing to take off when the damage was detected, they added. The passengers were made to deboard the plane, which then underwent repairs. The passengers went to Mumbai on the same flight around 1 pm, officials said.

Air India ground staff pay hike after Vistara merger: CEO Campbell Wilson

However, pilots and cabin crew will not be affected by merger, their salaries and benefits will be revised in next few days, says CEO Campbell Wilson

Air India introduces Premium Economy experience on select int'l routes

The class will be initially available to customers travelling on select routes operated by its fleet of Boeing 777-200LR aircraft: Bengaluru-San Francisco, Mumbai-San Francisco, and Mumbai-New York

From manual pricing to ChatGPT: How Air India is transforming under Tata

The push to modernise underscores the decay left by years of under-investment as Air India looks to shed decades-old bureaucratic processes and recapture customers

Air India rejigs policies for women employees; provides daycare help

Air India will provide 26 weeks of maternity leave to women employees as well as daycare support under its revamped policies. Besides, the airline will give women pilots the choice to opt for quicker turnaround flights till the child reaches the age of one year. The option will be subject to request and availability, according to an internal communication. The revised policies, to be effective from April 1, are part of the carrier's 'MOMS - Returning Mothers Programme'. MOMS refers to 'Making Our Mothers Soar'. Women employees will get maternity leave for 26 weeks, including for commissioning and adopting mothers, as per the communication. Currently, the maternity leave is for 12 weeks. A commissioning mother refers to one who commissions a surrogate mother to bear a child on her behalf while adopting mother is one who legally adopts a child. Under the programme, a woman employee can avail of nutrition guidance and day care facility on a co-pay model. There will also be counsellin

Air India secures Rs 14,000 crore from State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda

The loans are benchmarked to SBI's six-month marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR) and are priced 50 basis points (bps) above it

Regressive changes in service condition by Air India, says pilots' bodies

Pilots' bodies at Tata Group-owned Air India have accused the airline management of making unilaterally "rapid" and "regressive" changes in the service conditions of pilots. In a letter to Air India Chief Human Resources Officer Suresh Dutt Tripathi on Tuesday, Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) and Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) also stated that "all unilateral violations of their rights and service agreements are creating industrial unrest and shattering employee confidence in the current management". The communication comes amid Air India reducing drastically the annual limit of privilege leave accumulation to 60 days from 300 days earlier, as per a source. IPG represents the wide-body aircraft pilots at the airline while ICPA represents pilots who operate the narrow-body fleet of Air India. "To help the company, the unions have supported you in good faith for over a year. But still, we are being fed the same non-committal, bidding-for-time excuses while rapid and regressive

Air India's low-cost subsidiaries move to single unified reservation system

The two carriers, Air India Express and AirAsia India, have also adopted a common social media and customer support channel; air operating permits and regulatory posts to be merged later

AI Express, AirAsia India launch unified reservation system for passengers

Air India Express and AirAsia India have moved to a unified reservation system, whereby passengers can make bookings for both airlines through an integrated website. The move is part of the ongoing process of merging AirAsia India with Air India Express. The combined entity will focus on leisure-oriented and price-sensitive markets. On March 27, the two airlines moved to a single, unified reservations system and website, and adopted common social media and customer support channels. This migration, which largely involved Air India Express migrating to the systems used by AirAsia India, confers significant capability and efficiency benefits for the airline and passengers, a release said on Tuesday. The development comes five months after AirAsia India was fully acquired by Air India, and three months after both AirAsia India and Air India Express were placed under a single CEO. "Passengers are now able to make and manage bookings, and check-in to AirAsia India and Air India Express

Competition from Indian carriers will drive innovation globally: Etihad

UAE's Etihad Airways has aggressive growth plans in India, and is not concerned about Indian airlines starting more services to west Asian destinations, a company official said. Speaking to PTI, Etihad Airways' head for Indian subcontinent Salil Nath said such competition would drive innovation as the sector grows, lapping up the pent-up demand created by the pandemic. "We are operating services to 62 destinations globally, and this year, we will be flying to six more destinations with Kolkata being the first. We are rapidly expanding. Besides, we also started increasing frequencies on the key routes from India this month," he said. "On March 26, besides resuming services on the Kolkata-Abu Dhabi route, we started operating two daily flights from Ahmedabad and Chennai, and six more flights from Kochi per week. From April 24, Etihad will operate three services daily from Delhi and Mumbai," he added. Nath said the post-pandemic recovery has been rapid for the sector as there was a lo

Amid rising competition, Air India may reward talent with 8-10% salary hike

This is the first performance review of employees since the Tata Group took control of Air India

Air India Express commences four weekly direct flights on Goa-Dubai route

Air India Express, India's first international budget airline, on Monday said it has commenced operations from Goa International Airport, with four weekly direct flights on the Goa-Dubai route. The first flight IX 840 took off at 1:00 am on Monday with 148 passengers on board from Dabolim Airport. To mark the occasion, Aloke Singh, Managing Director, Air India Express and AirAsia India, said: "We are thrilled to start our maiden international services from Goa under the Air India Express banner, which is amongst India's most popular tourist destinations". Singh said that the airline takes pride in being the only airline that offers direct connectivity to Dubai from Goa. AirAsia India, which is set to merge with Air India Express, already operates 13 daily direct flights to/from Goa, connecting five domestic cities. "We hope to be a part of the tourism success story of the state and remain committed to offering the best of services to our customers," he added. Earlier in the evenin

DGCA seeks details from Nepal authorities on AI, Nepal Airlines incident

Aviation regulator DGCA has sought details from the Nepal authorities regarding the incident of an Air India and a Nepal Airlines aircraft coming close to a mid-air collision, according to a senior official. On Friday morning, a Nepal Airlines plane coming to Kathmandu from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and an Air India plane coming to Kathmandu from New Delhi almost collided. Authorities on Sunday said warning systems alerted the pilots whose timely action prevented the disaster. A senior DGCA official on Sunday said details are being obtained from the Nepal authorities on the airprox incident. Air India has submitted a report about the incident to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Nepal authorities do not have jurisdiction over Indian pilots. Pending further details, the crew of Air India involved in the incident was being off-rostered, the official added. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has written a letter to DGCA to conduct an investigation into the ma

Air India, Nepal Airlines aircraft almost collided; 2 controllers suspended

A major tragedy was averted on Friday when an Air India and a Nepal Airlines aircraft came close to collision mid-air but the warning systems alerted the pilots whose timely action prevented the disaster, authorities said here on Sunday. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has suspended two employees of the air traffic controller department for "carelessness", according to CAAN spokesperson Jagannath Niroula. On Friday morning, a Nepal Airlines plane coming to Kathmandu from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and an Air India plane coming to Kathmandu from New Delhi almost collided. The Air India aircraft was descending from 19,000 ft while the Nepal Airlines aircraft was flying at an altitude of 15,000 ft at the same location, Niroula said. After it was shown on the radar that the two aircraft were in proximity, the Nepal Airlines aircraft descended to 7,000 ft, the spokesperson said. The Civil Aviation Authority has formed a three-member probe committee to investigate the matter.

AI urination case: HC directs DGCA for committee to hear Mishra's plea

The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to constitute an appellate committee within two weeks' time to examine Shankar Mishra's appeal against Air India