Strict hand baggage rules in UAE for Air India passengers

Dubai: India's national carrier Air India and its budget airline will restrict the weight of hand luggage carried by passengers from the UAE from July 1.

The free allowance for hand luggage will be strictly restricted to 8kg for Air India and 7kg for its budget airline Air India Express inclusive of duty free items.

Also, the carry-on bags will be weighed at the gates before passengers board the flights, a senior airline official was quoted as saying by The Khaleej Times.

"If the baggage weighs more than the free allowance, a fee of 60 Dirhams (USD 16) per excess kilo would be charged at the gate," said Prem Sagar, manager of Air India and Air India Express in Dubai and Sharjah.

This is introduced at the peak time of summer travel from the UAE, Sagar said most other airlines flying to India have already been charging excess carry-on baggage at the gates.
29/06/15 PTI/Deccan Herald

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‘Snag’ in Air India Express flight, makes unscheduled landing

Chennai: A Dubai-bound Air India Express from Tiruchirappalli with 169 passengers on board made an unscheduled landing at the Chennai airport on Friday following a ‘snag,’ officials said.
The flight was on its way to Dubai when the snag was detected and since Chennai was the nearest base it landed here early this morning, an airline spokesperson told PTI.
13/06/15 Financial Express

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Surat airport safe for flight operations: AAI

Surat: The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has declared that the Surat airport is safe for operations under the aerodrome license issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

Replying an RTI application by the city-based Tarun Chugh, a member of We Want Working Airport at Surat (WWWAS), the AAI said that the Surat airport is safe to operate flight as per its 4C category — 4C category can handle Airbus 320 and Boeing 737 aircrafts.

Seven months after the buffalo-hit incident on November 2014, the AAI and the DGCA ordered a slew of infrastructural measures including the construction of the damaged perimeter and compound walls, removal of the elephant grass and trees and other bottlenecks from the operating area of the airport.

Over Rs 120 crore worth of development works were sanctioned for the Surat airport including the extension of the runway from the existing 2250 meters to 2905 meters at the cost of over Rs 70 crore.
12/06/15 Times of India

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http://'Snag' in AI Express flight, makes unscheduled landing

Chennai: A Dubai-bound Air India Express from Tiruchirappalli with 169 passengers on board made an unscheduled landing at the Chennai airport today following a 'snag,' officials said.

The flight was on its way to Dubai when the snag was detected and since Chennai was the nearest base it landed here early this morning, an airline spokesperson told PTI.
12/06/15 Business Standard

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Air India Express extends 30kg baggage allowance

Indian low-cost carrier Air India Express has extended its 30kg baggage allowance for passengers flying from the UAE and other Gulf states.

The carrier had earlier announced that its 30kg promotion would run until June 15, 2015.

A press statement issued by the carrier’s Middle East office said the free baggage allowance has been extended on all of its routes from Gulf and Middle East to India all year round.
07/06/15 Emirates24|7

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Air India express flight delayed as airline forgets to roster copilot

Mumbai: An Air India Express flight schedule to depart from Bangalore for Muscat at 8.50 am has been inordinately delayed as the airline rostered only one out of two pilots needed to operate the flight. Air India Express flights are operated with Boeing 737 aircraft, flown by a set of two pilots, a commander and a first officer.

"The airline`s crew scheduling department which does the job of rostering pilots forgot to roster a first officer for the Bangalore-Muscat-Kuwait flight," said an airline source. Flight IX 889 is currently on ground. The airline has rescheduled the departure to 10 am.
05/06/15 Nyooz

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Five flights diverted, one cancelled

Mangaluru: Heavy rain forced officials at Mangaluru International Airport to divert five flights, three to Kozhikode and two to Bengaluru, on Thursday.
SpiceJet cancelled its Bengaluru-Mangaluru flight scheduled to land here at 5 p.m.The five flights diverted returned to the airport by 8.15 p.m. Air India Express flights from Muscat and Dubai, which were to land here at 2 p.m. and 5.30 p.m., respectively, and a Jet Airways flight from Abu Dhabi scheduled to land at 1.45 p.m., were diverted to Kozhikode.
05/06/15 The Hindu

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Air India Express to report profit for first time in FY15

For the first time in a decade of its existence, Air India Express, the fully-owned low-cost subsidiary of national carrier Air India, is slated to report a profit for financial year 2014-15.

The Kochi-headquartered airline, which flies to Middle-East and south-east Asian destinations, is slated to post a profit of Rs 100 crore for 2014-15, against a loss of Rs 300 crore it reported in the same period of the previous year, senior Air India officials told FE.

The officials, however, didn’t reveal the top line or other financial parameters from the airline’s profit and loss statement for the recently concluded fiscal.

The financial results for 2014-15 of the national carrier and its subsidiaries are currently being audited by the airline.
03/06/15 Rhik Kundu and Pranav Nambiar/Financial Express

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AI Express not meeting expectations: CM Oommen Chandy

Kozhikode: Air India Express, the budget airline envisaged to provide cheaper travel options to expatriates, is not rising up to the expectations, chief minister Oommen Chandy said here on Monday. Speaking at the 10th anniversary celebrations of Air India Express organized by the Air India Charters Cabin Crew Union, he said it was with great expectations that the state`s expatriate community welcomed the airline, which commenced operations on April 29, 2005. "But it has not been able to operate service in the main Kerala- Gulf sector.
02/06/15 Nyooz

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