2 Air India staff suspended after pilgrims were served non-veg food

New Delhi: If populism and unionism weren't enough to dent Air India's credibility among flyers, the careless and callous staff surely promise its hasty grounding as its customer satisfaction report card took another hit on Saturday.
Tempers frayed onboard Leh-Delhi flight on Saturday afternoon when meat was served to some Jain pilgrims returning from Sindhu Darshan festival.
Top Air India sources confirmed the incident to Mail Today with a quick addition, "The action was taken immediately and we suspended two catering staff of assistant manager rank following the complaint."
The immediate staff suspension was urgent to stop the bad news from going out of airport as the fuming pilgrims landed in Capital. But Mail Today managed to get the most of the incident which left many returning from the festival with bitter memories.
Top sources said the incident happened on an Air India chartered flight which took off from Leh airport around noon on Saturday when many passengers belonging to Jain religious community objected to non-vegetarian food packets being served to them for lunch even as there was a prior intimation for a special "Hindu meal". The frustration and anger among passengers soon got support from others, which resulted in a chaos on board.
Incidentally, the 182-seater Air India flight was chartered by about 122 pilgrims who had visited Sindhu Darshan, held from June 23 to June 26, in Ladakh capital city and were returning back to New Delhi on Saturday.
30/06/15 Maneesh Pandey/Mail Today 

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Air India Flight Delayed by Chief Minister Fadnavis' Aide

Mumbai: At a time when India's repeatedly expressing its frustration with VIP culture, politicians and their aides appear to remain in thrall to special treatment. On Monday morning, an Air India flight from Mumbai to New York, with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on board, was delayed by nearly an hour on account of a member of his entourage, sources said.

Sources said the politician's aide, Praveen Pardeshi, arrived at the airport with an outdated passport. Passengers were then forced to wait for over 50 minutes while the bureaucrat's new passport was delivered to him, said sources.

The Chief Minister is on an official trip to the US. Mr Pardeshi is a member of his delegation.

Air India, however, has denied that the delay was due to the boarding pass episode.
30/06/15  Saurabh Gupta/Aashna Harjani/NDTV

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Air India cabin crew injured as captain forgets to announce landing

Mumbai: An Air India aircraft and it's passengers had a narrow escape after a faulty landing at Mumbai airport on Sunday. The Boeing 777-300 flight (AI-922) arriving in Mumbai from Riyadh apparently experienced turbulence just before it was about to land and dropped 100 feet. The sudden drop in altitude led to around six crew members suffering bruises and minor injuries as they hadn't taken their seats. Luckily the passengers escaped unhurt. Apparently, the captain of the flight forgot to inform the cabin crew that the flight was about to touchdown and would be dropping. However, the Air India officials brushed aside this incident, stating that these were just accusations. “We are investigating the matter,” said Air India spokesperson to mid-day.
29/06/15 Mid Day

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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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AI flight delayed over co-pilot’s oxygen mask

New Delhi: A Delhi-bound Air India flight from Chennai was delayed on Saturday by nearly one hour as the co-pilot’s oxygen mask had to be changed at the last moment.

The flight was to take off from Chennai at 5.30 p.m.

“Flight AI-539 from Chennai to Delhi was held up for about an hour as the oxygen mask for the co-pilot had to be changed at the last minute,” the source said.

When contacted, an Air India spokesperson said the delay was due to late arrival of an incoming flight.
28/06/15 The Hindu

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First Intl Flight of AI from City before Nabakalebara

Bhubaneswar: National carrier Air India has stolen a march ahead of the private operators by deciding to start international flights from Odisha ahead of Nabakalebara. The first flight will operate between Bhubaneswar and Dubai by July 10, if everything moves as planned.

This was revealed following a meeting between Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma at New Delhi on Saturday.

To popularise the festival and bring in more foreign tourists for the religious event, the decision to introduce international flights from Biju Patnaik Airport was taken, he said.

During the meeting, Pradhan and Sharma also took stock of different schemes being used by the Centre for promotion of Nabakalebara in social, print and other mass media in India as well as abroad. Sharma informed that the entire campaign related to Nabakalebara is being taken up as part of ‘Incredible India’. A separate function for issue of commemorative stamp and coins for the festival will also be organised soon.
28/06/15 New Indian Express

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Six stranded flyers find their seats in AI flight occupied

Bhopal: They had confirmed tickets, but six flyers on Saturday could not board Air India flight AI-633 from Raja Bhoj airport as their seats were occupied. After passengers protested, Air India authorities booked their ticket for another flight during the day.

Denied his scheduled flight, Pawan Sharma, said this was an unimaginable scenario in air travel. "It was like travelling on public transport bus and someone occupied my seat. This is funny. I had an important assignment in Delhi which I missed," he said.

Sharma said he had booked a ticket for a Delhi-bound flight which was scheduled for takeoff at 8.15am. "When I reached the airport, AI officials said owing to a problem, I cannot take this flight. Plane landed at 9.15 am and it took off at 10.30am," Sharma said.

In normal course, AI 633 flight comes to Bhopal from Mumbai and then flies to Delhi. On Saturday, it went to Indore and then came to Bhopal.
28/06/15 Times of India

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Air India flight grounded for 10 hours

Raipur: Over 100 odd passengers travelling on Air India flight 469 to Delhi had a harrowing time at Raipur airport following the grounding of the aircraft due to a "technical snag" on Saturday morning.

The snag was reportedly discovered after the passengers had boarded the plane, which was ready for take off at 9 am. The passengers were deboarded from the aircraft after about half an hour of wait, as the snag could not be fixed.

Till the filing of this report at 5 PM the flight was still not ready to take off and all the passengers were stuck in the security holding area. According to some passengers, they were initially told that it would take "10 minutes" to fix the snag but were later informed that the aircraft required a "spare part", which was being brought in from Mumbai.
27/06/15 Anuja Jaiswal/Times of India

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Emotional gathering at Air India memorial

Friends, old and new, gathered on Tuesday morning on a very special piece of land overlooking the still waters  of Dunmanus Bay, to remember and pray for the victims of Air India flight 182.
Exactly thirty years previously, at 8.12am on the morning of June 23rd 1985, a bomb exploded on an Air India flight from Montreal to Delhi, just off the West Cork coast.
A total of 329 people died, 86 of them children, and beautiful Ahakista on the Sheep’s Head Peninsula is where the relatives annually come to find some peace.
Joining the relatives at the memorial at this year’s commemoration were Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan; Indian Minister for External Affairs Mr VK Singh; Canadian Justice Minister and Attorney General Peter McKay, as well as the ambassadors from India and Canada.
27/06/15  Brian Moore/Southernstar

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After Lizard, cockroach found in Air India flight meal

In yet another shocking incident a passenger travelling in an Air India Patna-Delhi flight found a cockroach in his meal! Yes a passenger named Ram Mahato found a cockroach in the meal served to him on June 20 when he was travelling to Delhi in the Economy Class. The passenger took an image of the same and complained about it. But by the time he found the roach, he had already consumed half of the meal. When he reported about it to the air hostess, he was asked to file a complaint about the incident via email.
The incident happened on June 20, Mahato who is a regular passenger of Air India now claims that Air India would not be his preference while travelling. When Mahato sent a mail complaining about the incident, the General Catering Manager responded with an apology. The manager assured the passenger that the matter will be taken strongly with the caterer.
26/06/15  Priya Prakashan/India.com

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CM Misses Flight To Delhi, Smart City Project Launch

Puducherry: Chief Minister N Rangasamy missed his flight to New Delhi on Wednesday night for participating in the launch of guidelines for the Smart City project by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.
Rangasamy who was scheduled to fly on Air India flight at 9 pm on Wednesday reached Chennai airport at 8.50 pm, but the flight took off 10 minutes ahead of schedule, said Sekhar  Private Secretary to CM. Rangasamy returned to Puducherry at 1.30 am and did not attempt the morning flight at 6 am as he would still be late for the launch, said his office.
However, the Chief Minister’s missing the flight sparked off speculations of a rift with BJP and denial of Smart City project to Puducherry. It was also felt that the Chief Minister was trying to avoid meeting the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, after the police accepted a complaint against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over allegedly insulting the national flag during the  International Yoga Day celebrations. Though after the BJP protest no case was made and the complaint was closed after inferring that Prime Minister was wearing a tricolor towel and not a flag, it caused embarrassment to the AINRC government and
26/06/15 Debjani Dutta/New Indian Express

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Air India plane makes emergency landing in Melbourne

An Air India flight from Melbourne to Delhi has made an emergency landing at Melbourne's Tullamarine airport after nearly an hour of dramatically flying around the city this morning.
Flight AI309 departed Tullamarine at 10.38am AEST before the aeroplane experienced unknown 'technical complications'.

According to the flight's path, the pilots of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner made a U-Turn shortly after Kyneton and then circled Port Phillip Bay for almost an hour and dumped fuel, before setting it's course back to Tullamarine for an emergency landing.

This comes less then a fortnight after Malaysian Airlines flight MH148 made an emergency landing at Melbourne Airport shortly after taking off.
25/06/15 The Vine Life

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Now, fishy odour delays AI fl

Ahmedabad:  Delays are not new to Air India. Last week, flights were delayed for three days at a stretch, inconveniencing even former president APJ Abdul Kalam. The reasons for AI delays are so diverse that the airline could consider coming up with a menu card, allowing flyers to choose the kind of delay they would like for themselves - shortage of cabin crew, crack in the windshield, malfunctioning toilets, malfunctioning AC, absence of pilots, and unbearable stink.

On Saturday, smell of fish in the AI aircraft caused much brouhaha, forcing the airline to delay the flight by over three hours, infuriating the passengers further. The 'olfactive delay' was caused at Mumbai airport. It was around 2 am on Saturday when the passengers on board AI 131 London-Mumbai-Ahmedabad flight complained of a fishy smell. The flight door was about to close when passengers on the seats near the exit started talking about unbearably pungent odour. Confused where the smell originated from, they even checked underneath their seats before one of them reported the matter to the cabin crew.
The crew tried to convince the passengers that all was well, but soon passengers on board began protesting. When the arguments reached a crescendo, the crew informed the captain about it and soon, the passengers were deplaned. The aircraft was cleaned up thoroughly and deodorised in the exercise that lasted an hour. Around 4 am, the passengers were allowed on board again and the plane took off from Mumbai airport. The flight, which was to reach Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport around 2.50 am, arrived at 6.17 am, more than three hours after its scheduled arrival.
24/06/15 Hemington James/Ahmedabad Mirror

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Air India Employee Returns Passengers' Lost Cash, Passport

New Delhi: A dedicated Air India employee has come in for praise for restoring passports and Rs 11 lakh cash of two passengers who left it in a flight from Raipur.

Shivashankar, Air India security officer, who was carrying out security checks on AI-469 from Raipur to Delhi, had recovered a pouch carrying two Indian passports belonging to passengers Gurmet Singh Bhambra and Ravindar Bhambra, besides foreign and Indian currency of about Rs 11 lakh.

The Air India official not only desposited the pouch in the "Left Luggage Unit" but also traced out contact number of the passengers who were from Raipur.
23/06/15 PTI/New Indian Express

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AI Justifies Fare Goof-up, Says It Can't Practise Undercutting

Chennai: Following the furore after Air India passengers discovered that their super-cheap air tickets were not going to materialise, the airline on Tuesday claimed that the incorrect fares were the result of a technical error.

As many as 120 people had on May 19 and 20 booked return tickets for the Chennai-Delhi-Colombo flight for Rs 4,000, and return tickets for Chennai-Colombo for Rs 1,200.

Passengers, who booked tickets after noticing the heavily- slashed prices, had taken to social media to express anger over cancelled trips and losses, stating that the loss was incurred owing to Air India’s fault, which they claim should have made quicker responses in case of a glitch.

“We didn’t announce any offer or discount to the public officially, so it was a clear case of an error,” said an AI spokesperson. Pointing out that ticket fares could not possibly be sold at a fare lesser than the one registered by the airline with the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the official added that they had taken measures to intimate the passengers from June 8.
24/06/15 New Indian Express

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Air India to soon harmonise salaries of pilots of its two narrow-body fleets

New Delhi: National carrier Air India is in the process of rationalising salaries of the pilots of its narrow-body fleet, who are currently paid less as compared to the pilots flying wide-body aircraft.

At present, the difference in the emoluments of the two type of pilots varies between Rs 50,000-1,50,000.

"We are in the process of harmonising the wages of the pilots of the two fleets -- the narrow-body and wide-body planes. We are confident of completing the exercise soon," a senior Air India official told PTI today.

Refuting reports that some of its narrow-body pilots, who are now flying the wide-body Boeing 787-800 after training, have quit the airline because of the disparity in pay packets, the official said, the discussions to bring parity are already "under way".
23/06/15 PTI/Economic Times

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Air India sets up panel to find Nandan’s successor

The government has set up a selection committee to find a successor to Air India’s chairman and managing director Rohit Nandan, whose extended term ends in August.
The committee is headed by cabinet secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha and includes civil aviation secretary Rajeev Nayan Choubey and DoPT secretary Sanjay Kothari. “The search and selection committee has started looking at candidates and has also invited applications. We are not closing any options,” said officials.
23/06/15 Sunny Sen/The Financial Express

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Flying In For Treatment, Man From Andaman Dies on Plane

Chennai: A stretcher-bound 46-year-old passenger from Andaman, being brought to the city on an Air India flight from Port Blair for treatment of his head injuries, was found dead on arrival by paramedical staff attached to the Airport on Saturday.

Robert Johnson, a native of Shoal Bay village of Ferrargunj Tehsil in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, had sustained grievous head injuries on June 6 after the motorcycle he was riding was involved in a road accident. After initial treatment, he was being brought to the city for advanced care by flight number AI 550 Port Blair - Chennai, on Saturday. Stretchered to a bed but in a conscious state, he had boarded the flight at around 11.15 am. He was accompanied by a doctor and his father-in-law on  the flight.

After landing in Chennai at 1.30 pm, paramedical workers waited until other passengers alighted, as per protocol, before proceeding to attend to the patient. It was then that they noticed a motionless Johnson and alerted the accompanying doctor as well as the Apollo Hospitals doctor on Airport duty.
21/06/15 New Indian Express

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23 AI Dreamliner commanders decide to quit over pay disparity

New Delhi: Twenty-three senior most Air India (AI) commanders have sought no objection certificates from the airline to quit.

They have done so over the management's continued failure to have pay parity between pilots of erstwhile Indian Airlines (IA) and Air India even eight years after the two airlines were merged.

A letter signed by 23 executive pilots from erstwhile IA, who fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, has been sent to the aviation ministry and AI's outgoing CMD Rohit Nandan protesting huge difference in pay with pilots who fly the same aircraft.
20/06/15 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Air India asks govt to reconsider easing of 5/20 rule

New Delhi : Air India has asked the Government to “reconsider” the proposed easing of 5/20 rule which will help new airlines to fly overseas without serving much on domestic routes, saying the move will be “detrimental” not only for the national carrier but also against the other established players.

According to sources, senior airline officials met the Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Nayan Choubey and told the Government that the regulation, allowing a new Indian carrier to fly abroad should be framed in a manner, which does not compromise with the “passengers’ safety” and financial viability of the airlines.  The meeting comes ahead of the scheduled deliberations of a Rajya Sabha-Committee on Government Assurances on the issue in Srinagar tomorrow, they said.
19/06/15 Free Press Journal

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