Air India

Air India Express IX1344 overshoots runway and falls into valley at Kozhikode airport

An Air India Express Boeing 737-800 operating flight IX1344 from Dubai to Kozhikode Calicut airport landed at the airport but overshot the runway and fell into a valley. The aircraft has broken into several pieces. The aircraft involved was VT-AXH, delivered to the airline in November 2006 and carried the Gateway of India / India gate tail art. Rescue services …

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Air India Phase 5 repatriation flights schedule. Vande Bharat flights to/from the US and Europe

Air India Airbus A320 VT-EXC.

Air India has released its schedule for phase 5 of the Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) flights which will be operated from 1st to 31st August 2020. The airline will operate three times a week to New York JFK, Newark, Washington DC, Chicago, San Francisco and Paris. It will operate four times a week to Frankfurt. The current schedule for flights …

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Schedule of phase 4 Vande Bharat repatriation flights to India

Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner line number 35 test registered N1015 (later became VT-ANH) at the India Aviation show, Hyderabad March 2012. Photo copyright Devesh Agarwal.

Phase 4 of the Vande Bharat repatriation flights is kicking off on 3 July and includes flights to India from Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Japan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Philippines, Myanmar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America and Vietnam. The schedule of flights being operated to these countries from India is available here. The …

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Air India Phase 4 repatriation flights schedule. Vande Bharat flights from India to US, UK, Australia, ME and more

Air India Boeing 787-8 VT-ANE.

It has been over a month since Air India began operating the first set of flights under the Vande Bharat mission of the government of India to repatriate stranded Indian’s overseas and travellers stranded in India. The latest schedule of Air India flights departing from India has been released. Passengers can directly book seats on these flights on Air India’s …

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How to book a repatriation flight from India to USA, UK and Singapore

When the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) announced repatriation flights to bring people back to India, it was unclear whether people would be allowed to fly out of India on the aircraft that would bring stranded Indians back. Yesterday, after a notification from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Air India began taking bookings for flights to the United States, United …

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Fares for repatriation flights to India

Air India Airbus A320 VT-EXC.

Yesterday a schedule for the first seven days of repatriation flights to India were released. Unlike the initial evacuation flights that were operated by Air India, the flights that will be operated from 7 May 2020 will be charged. The fares for these flights have been released: Repatriation fares on Air India Repatriation fares on Air India Express For more …

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Schedule of Air India Express repatriation flights to India

On Monday, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) announced that it would begin repatriation flights to India from 7 May 2020. Following that a schedule of flights that would be operated by Air India was released. Air India Express will operate flights from the below cities to India: Abu Dhabi Bahrain Doha Dubai Kuala Lumpur Kuwait Muscat Sharjah Singapore Links …

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Repairing and retaining brand Air India will challenge any buyer

The Air India ramp at Mumbai CSMI Airport. Photo by and copyright Devesh Agarwal.

As the government of India attempts to privatise Air India, media reports suggest the second time around is seeing renewed interest. Reports also indicate the government is keen the Air India brand is retained post any sale. One can see why. The airline is still India’s national carrier and the brand has a high recall value and familiarity quotient. Despite …

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Air India wants 2400 crores more, the bleeding continues

Air India Boeing 747-400 VT-ESP Ajanta. Image copyright Devesh Agarwal.

After a loss of 8,556 crores in FY19, the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Air India has indicated that the airline needs a sovereign guarantee of 2400 crores to fund ongoing operations. The airline continues to bleed cash at an alarming rate. Capacity woes continue and estimates indicate that twenty-two aircraft are grounded. On the costs side, there have …

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Demystifying the Air India Asset Holdings bond offering

The Air India ramp at Mumbai CSMI Airport. Photo by and copyright Devesh Agarwal.

As the government preps Air India for divestment, a key element of the plan is the reduction of the debt burden. The goal is to make the airline a better proposition for buyers. The debt reduction has been carried out by creating a special purpose vehicle (SPV) named Air India Asset Holdings Ltd (AIAHL) and moving half of the debt …

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What if Air India does not attract any buyers? What then?

Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner line number 35 test registered N1015 (later became VT-ANH) at the India Aviation show, Hyderabad March 2012. Photo copyright Devesh Agarwal.

Military aviator and strategist John Boyd famously said, “If you want to understand something, take it to the extremes or examine its opposites.” Applied in the context of Air India, this becomes particularly interesting. That is, at a point of time where everyone seems to be convinced that the airline will be sold off, to understand the situation fully one …

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Air India Express IX611 hits compound wall at Trichy

An Air India Express flight operating flight IX611 from Tiruchirapalli to Dubai hit the compound wall of the airport during takeoff today. The flight was being operated by VT-AYD a nine year old Boeing 737-800. The aircraft took off from Trichy airport at around 01.20 today morning. It is being reported that the plane first hit a localizer antenna following …

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Air India to begin Bangalore – London flight, cancels London – Newark

Air India will begin thrice a week flights from Bangalore to London Heathrow from 17th November 2018. The route will be operated by a Boeing 787-8 which features the airline’s newest cabin product. With this flight Bangalore will be the fourth destination from which Air India flies to London after Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Read our review of Air India’s …

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Inflight Review: Air India: Business: 787-8: Mumbai – London

Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner line number 35 test registered N1015 (later became VT-ANH) at the India Aviation show, Hyderabad March 2012. Photo copyright Devesh Agarwal.

After being escorted back to the terminal by one of the transit hotel staff. With the way my luck was running this trip, I decided to double check that my bag were through checked to London. I went up to the business class counter in the check in hall which is an odd experience, because the entrance of the counter …

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Inflight Review: Air India: Business: A319: Bangalore – Mumbai

As soon as I mentioned to anybody, that I was considering flying Air India to the UK – the reactions I got were ‘Are you crazy?’, ‘Do you enjoy suffering?’, ‘Oh god’ and similar. Booking We had a whole bunch of Air India miles that were going to start expiring soon. So I was originally looking to book a flight …

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Air India hurts itself by withdrawing non-veg economy meal option

A tail parade of each of Air India's Boeing aircraft as in 2011. The 747-400, 777-300ER, 777-200LR and 737-800.

In another demonstration of why Government should not be involved in the operations of national carrier Air India, Air India Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani announced the discontinuation of serving non-vegetarian meals in the economy class on all domestic flights. The disclosure made in an interview with The Hindu newspaper invited swift reaction, much of it negative, by many, …

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Air India to launch New Delhi Washington DC non-stop in July

Air India Boeing 777-200LR VT-ALE at New Delhi Indira Gandhi airport. Image copyright Vedant Agarwal

National carrier Air India will operate a non-stop ‘capital’s flight‘ between New Delhi and Washington DC Dulles (IAD) starting from July 7th. The thrice-weekly flight will be operated by a Boeing 777-200LR aircraft in a three class configuration with eight first, 35 business and 195 economy class seats. Washington Dulles will be the airline’s fifth non-stop destination in the United …

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Video: Making the Air India A320neo. India has maximum neo operators.

Air India Airbus A320neo (A320-251N) VT-EXF

Yesterday, national carrier Air India took delivery of its first Airbus A320neo, VT-EXF. The aircraft is financed by Kuwait’s ALAFCO. The delivery signifies the first CFM powered A320neo in India. Unlike IndiGo and Go Air who chose the Pratt and Whitney PW110G GTF, Air India opted for the CFM LEAP engine. The delivery also puts India in the lead with …

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Air India announces new flights to Washington DC, Copenhagen, Bangkok

The Air India ramp at Mumbai CSMI Airport. Photo by and copyright Devesh Agarwal.

National carrier Air India has announced it shall start direct flights between New Delhi (DEL) and Washington Dulles (IAD) in July 2017. This flight will be the fifth direct connection with the US and shall be operated by a Boeing 777 aircraft, though the carrier has not specified whether this will be on the 777-200LR or the larger 777-300ER. The …

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Air India New Delhi to San Francisco is now the world’s longest non-stop flight

Air India Boeing 777-237LR VT-ALF Jharkand at New Delhi IGI airport. Photo copyright Vedant Agarwal, all rights reserved. Used with permission.

Till October 15th, Dubai based Emirates airline held the record for the world’s longest non-stop flight, flying 14,497 kilometres (km) between Dubai and Auckland. On October 16th, national carrier Air India’s flight AI173 from New Delhi to San Francisco claimed that title flying a distance of 15,112km. To top it off, AI173 flew a longer distance of 1,811km in a …

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