Tag Archives: Air India

NITI Aayog, in its report on the debt-laden Air India, has said that it is “unviable” to provide financial support to the national carrier. Air India has a debt of Rs 51,890 crore. The Government informed the Parliament that it has initiated a process for strategic disinvestment of Air India as part of efforts to revive the national carrier. As part of a turnaround plan approved by the previous UPA dispensation, Air India was to receive a bailout package of up to Rs 30,231 crore for a period of 10 years, starting in 2012. “NITI Aayog in its report on Air India has stated that further financial support to an unviable non-priority company in a matured and competitive aviation sector would not be the best use of scarce financial resources of the government,” said Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation. The total outstanding loans of Air India as on September 30 last year stood at Rs 51,890 crore as per provisional figures. Of this, the aircraft loans account for Rs 18,364 crore and the working capital loans were at Rs 33,526 crore. In 2016-17, the airline had a net loss of Rs 3,643 crore, while the operating profit rose to Rs 215 crore, the provisional figures showed. Source: PTI  

Pankaj Srivastava, Commercial Director & Board Member, Air India, bagged the DDP Trailblazer award. Having joined Indian Airlines as Management Trainee after completing MBA, he is now responsible for ground handling, strategy and planning, sales and marketing, inflight services and cargo with Air India. Additionally, he is a Board Member of Alliance Air, Air India Express and Air India Airport Transport Services. With more than three decades of experience in aviation, Srivastava held some significant portfolios in his career including Staff Officer to CMD, Indian Airlines; Regional Director for Middle East and Executive Director – Sales & Marketing. He has been responsible for starting Gulf Flight Operations for Indian Airlines.

Air India is reportedly going to involve its core aviation assets packaged with low-cost subsidiary Air India Express and AI-SATS for sale as part of its disinvestment process. Apart from that the non-core assets, which includes Air India building in Mumbai and other offices, will not be a part of the sale but part of the special purpose vehicle (SPV). Core aviation assets include aircraft, slots at airports and flying rights to various countries. Both Air India Express and AI-SATS are profit-making subsidiaries of Air India. The other Air India arms — profit-making Air India Air Transport Services and loss-making Air India Engineering Services — will be sold separately. The SPV will include Air India’s non-aircraft debt as well as non-core assets. Source: Economic Times  

Air India is set to start its inaugural flight on the Jaipur-Agra-Jaipur route from December 8, 2017. The flight will be plying between the destinations thrice a week, namely, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, and will be using an ATR aircraft. The flight will depart Jaipur (AI 9687) at 11:15 am and arrive in Agra at 12:05 pm. The airline will then depart Agra (AI 9688) at 12:25 pm and land in Jaipur at 1:15 pm.

Air India plans to start a direct flight from Chandigarh to Bangkok from December 11, 2017, which will operate thrice a week, informed R K Negi, Local Manager, Air India. He said, “The direct flight from Chandigarh to Bangkok will commence on December 11 this year and the round trip initially will cost Rs. 22,000, while the rest of the cost will depend on the demand.” Negi also added that the airline’s latest aircraft – Airbus A320 Neo, will operate on this route and will offer 12 Business Class seats and 150 Economy Class seats. This aircraft will operate every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The Chandigarh-Bangkok flight will be the third international flight operating from the Chandigarh International Airport. At present Indigo’s Chandigarh-Dubai and Air India Express’ Chandigarh-Sharjah flights are the only two international flights operating from Chandigarh. Source: Hindustan Times

Air India has resumed its Ludhiana-Delhi flight from the Sahnewal Airport almost three years after the flight was discontinued in 2014. The 70-seater ATR-72 plane of Alliance Air under Air India will be operational on this route. Pawan Kumar, Assistant Manager, Air Traffic Control, Sahnewal Airport, informed that the flight would be operational four days a week on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Restarted under the UDAN (Udey Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) scheme, 50 per cent of the 70 seats are subsidised at Rs 2,000. “Price for rest of the tickets will depend on daily demand and supply formula,” said Kumar.

The government has appointed senior IAS officer Rajiv Bansal as the Chairman and Managing Director of Air India for three months. Bansal, who is additional secretary and financial adviser at the petroleum ministry, will replace Ashwani Lohani-who has been appointed as the Chairman of Railway Board. A senior civil aviation ministry official reportedly said that Bansal has been appointed as Air India CMD for three months. Bansal is from the Nagaland cadre of 1988 batch and hails from Haryana. He is taking over as Air India CMD at a time when the government is working on the modalities for the disinvestment of the loss-making national carrier. He had served at the civil aviation ministry between 2006 and 2008. (Source: PTI)

Ashwani Lohani has been named the Chairman of the Railway Board after A.K. Mittal resigned from the position. Lohani continues to be the Chairman and Managing Director of Air India until further notice. An officer of Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineering (IRSME) cadre, Lohani has held the position of DRM, Delhi Division, as well as National Rail Museum; and Chief Administrative Officer, Rail Alternate Fuel. Mittal reportedly resigned owing moral responsibility of the Puri-Haridwar Utkal Express derailment in Uttar Pradesh. Lohani has to his credit a Guinness World Record of running the world’s oldest working steam locomotive—‘Fairy Queen Express’. Before Air India, he was at the helm of Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation and India Tourism Development Corporation. With four engineering degrees, Lohani has even authored two books.

Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Air India, is all set to start a new service from Tiruchi-Chennai from August 30, 2017. The 72-seater flight would take off from Chennai at 7:35 am and would reach Trichy at 8:35 am and would again leave Tiruchi at 9:05 am and land at 10:20 am in Chennai. Alliance Air will be operating ATR 600 type aircraft in the Chennai – Tiruchi – Chennai sector. Jet Airways is already operating daily services in the Chennai – Tiruchi – Chennai sector using ATR type aircrafts.

Air India’s low-cost arm Air India Express will launch direct flights between Delhi and Madurai with effect from September 15. The introductory one-way fare offered on Delhi-Madurai sector starts from Rs 3,975 and the return journey fare starts from Rs 7,950, the airline said in a statement. The service will be offered four days in a week i.e. on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The airline will also be offering passengers the additional facility to buy special meals of their choice online on select sectors, the statement added. The budget carrier currently operates around 545 flights per week, connecting 15 Indian cities to 14 destinations in the Middle East and South East Asia. The airline has a fleet of 23 Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft.