Tag Archives: Air India

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker may be driving himself and Boeing executives in to a frenzy about delays on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, but two Indian carriers who ordered the aircraft are crying . . . . . . all the way to the bank. At the start of the week Boeing said that it will compensate Air …

It is well known that the national carrier is systemically fleeced by politicians and bureaucrats. Employees, past and present, who have experienced the monumental levels of waste, have also joined the bandwagon. Stung by record losses Air India has been toying with various measures to cut costs and boost revenues. Most Indians were cynical of true reforms at Air India, …

I read the following press report and just shook my head. Forget a pinch of salt, there isn’t enough salt on god’s green earth to make this statement fly. The government would infuse additional equity into ailing Air India provided it saves at least Rs 2,000 crore ($417 million) this financial year by implementing cost-cutting measures, Civil Aviation Minister Praful …

The last month of airplane has been eventful to say the least. This week we feature unusual or rare aircraft and events from Bangalore. Memories of Air India always invoke visions of The Maharajah, and no aircraft in the Air India fleet symbolises it better than the Boeing 747. Air India was one of the earliest adopters of the Jumbo …

State carrier Air India (AI) has announced its winter schedule which comes into effect from 25 October which highlights a significant increase in commitment to Bangalore. The airline will be operating around 130 flights per week ex Bangalore to various destinations in the country and abroad, offering around 17,000 seats weekly. The carrier is introducing new “same day return” flights …

A few days ago, while I was at the Bengaluru International Airport to receive Rotary International President Elect Ray Klinginsmith, I took these photos in the midst of a typical afternoon monsoon thunderstorm.

PTI reports that in a show of compassion, Air India staffers and officials at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport, pooled money to pay for the ticket of a bereaved passenger who had to rush to Chennai but was short of cash. M Pandian had lost one of his dear ones in Chennai and reached IGI airport in the …

Last night as we watched the TV news my much better half commented “these Air India pilots are digging their own grave!!” It got me thinking of Julius Caesar’s famous quote, Veni Vidi Vici, but with a twist. Chairman Arvind Jadhav came, the pilots struck, the government compromised, and the continuing down slide at Air India won. Since it’s government …

Following the shoddy reporting about the Air India fire earlier this month, Times Now TV has taken irresponsible reporting to a new height. In their blind quest to have “exclusive” and “breaking news” the channel has published not only their usual scaremongering story, but with a huge factual error. As per their website It was a close call for over …

Building on existing code share and interline arrangements, Indian state owned Air India has expanded its partnership with Singapore Airlines, by entering into an Frequent Flying Passenger (FFP) agreement, where frequent flyer programme members of both airlines will now be able to earn and redeem mileage points on flights operated by each other. Members of Air India’s Flying Returns programme …

A good way to end the week on a humorous note. Thanks to a comedy of errors due to a double goof-up by both passengers and airline Air India Express, four passengers from Bangladesh landed up in countries and cities far away from their destinations. Air India’s low fare subsidiary Air India Express operates a flight from the Bangladeshi capital …

Television news media coverage of aircraft incidents and accidents in India is normally incomplete and poor at best, liberally dosed with sensationalism that would make a Bollywood scriptwriter proud. The recent fuel leak and fire incident involving Air India Boeing 747-437 VT-ESM at Mumbai airport brought out the worst of India’s still nascent private television news channels. The real version …

Events of the week have over-taken me and left me with no time to post the return leg story of my Guwahati and Kolkata trip. My apologies. The return flights were smooth but reasonably eventful in other ways. Despite leaving well ahead of time, I got stuck in a traffic jam and barely made it to the airport, thanks to …

Air India’s latest Boeing 777-300ER VT-ALQ named after the North Eastern state of Manipur was captured by Rick Schlamp as it took off from Boeing Paine field to New Delhi on its delivery flight yesterday. Click on image for a larger view. All rights reserved by Rick Schlamp.

Thanks to friends at Airliners-India, we have managed to secure highlights of Air India’s turnaround plan as it proposed to be presented to the government. In a very straight forward approach, reflective of the work culture of Chairman and Managing Director Mr. Arvind Jadhav, the report does not pull any punches. As an example — fleet acquisition. It is well …

From the first time I met him, I have always admired him. Arvind Jadhav is a tough, no-nonsense, go getter — a rare quality in a government bureaucrat anywhere in the world, but exceedingly rare in India. He was identified as the man to head Air India even at a time when the venerable Mr. V. Thulasidas was in contention. …

About two weeks ago, Air India announced it was going to extend its low cost operation Air India Express in to the domestic market. Across Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites I detected a snigger from many fellow aviation bloggers and enthusiasts – Air India, a national carrier going low cost ? How low can Air India fall ? …

Within the weekend the threatened strike action by the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) on August 18th has fizzled out. On Friday July 31, the FIA members barring state owned Air India, took India by storm and announced they would suspend all domestic flights on August 18th in protest of the vindictive tax policies on the aviation industry specifically aviation …

The next aircraft to enter the Air India fleet will be the ultra long range Boeing 777-200LR. MSN 36306 is registered VT-ALG and will be named after the state of Kerala – “God’s own country”. Equipped with GE GE90-110B1L engines, this plane has a three class configuration with 8 seats in First Class, 35 Business, and 195 economy. Compare this …

On July 13th, Air India took delivery of it’s latest Boeing 777-300ER. MSN 36313 was registered at VT-ALO and the aircraft name, which has a special significance, is Karnataka — the home state of Bangalore Aviation. The aircraft is fitted with two General Electric GE90-115BL2 engines and has a three class configuration. 4 First, 35 Business, and 303 Economy. Here …