AI fined for 'forcing' passengers to pay extra last minute

New Delhi: The country's apex consumer forum has ordered Air India to pay Rs 75,000 as damages to a father-daughter duo for not informing them about extra charges for preponing their journey and asking them to pay USD 175 more minutes before their flight back home from the US.
The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) gave its order on an appeal by Air India against the October 2006 order of the Andhra Pradesh State Commission on two separate complaints filed by Hyderabad-resident Dharmavaram Kottam and his daughter for not informing them about the extra charges.
"Not informing the complainant about the payable charge at the first instance and the manner of collecting it before departure amount to deficiency in service," an NCDRC bench of V R Kingaonkar and Vinay Kumar said.
Dharmavaram and his daughter had preponed their journey from the US to India from June 1, 2003 to May 29, 2003. On the date of the journey, minutes before boarding the plane, they were summoned to the IA counter at the airport lounge and asked to pay USD 175 extra before taking the flight for preponing their journey.
28/09/11 ZeeNews

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Air India launches city check-in

Delhi: To provide better customer facilities, Air India on Tuesday launched city check-in facility for those travelling with only hand baggage on the domestic sector.
The 'City Check-In' facility has been introduced at the national carrier's main reservation office at Safdarjung airport in New Delhi.
"This facility will be available on all days of the week from 0930 hours to 1830 hours for the passengers having hand baggage only and for the flights originating from Delhi within 24 hours of the scheduled departure," a senior Air India official said.
The city check-in facility would be beneficial for the corporates, business travellers and government officials as it would save their time at the airport, he said.
Air India will also be introducing check-in facility at Dhaula Kuan Metro station of the Airport Express Line to benefit armed forces personnel.
Trying hard to tide over its financial crisis, the national carrier has made efforts to improve its on-time performance, achieving 100 per cent on-time departure of its flights from Delhi five times this month.
The overall OTP of Air India this month has been over 96 per cent on the domestic and international networks, which has helped the national carrier to regain its lost flyers.
27/09/11 PTI/Rediff.com

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Air India may hire new COO next January after Gustav Baldauf's resignation

New Delhi: State-run Air India will pick a new chief operating officer (COO) by January and prefer someone from the domestic industry, according to a top executive. The airline's board has also created a post of COO for its low-cost arm, Air India Express.
Cash-strapped Air India has been operating without a COO since February when expatriate Gustav Baldauf, who held the post with a hefty pay package, resigned following difference with the government. "We are looking for professionals from the Indian aviation industry this time and would not prefer to have a foreign national, mainly because you can't pay them anything below Rs 3 crore," Air India chairman and managing director Rohit Nandan said, adding that the new appointment would happen within four months.
AI had appointed three professionals in 2010 - COO Baldauf, chief training officer Stephan Sukumar and Air India Express CEO Pawan Arora - on salaries ranging from Rs1-3 crore to help turn around the organisation.
While Arora was asked to go last November, Baldauf exited early this year followed by Sukumar.
26/09/11 Anindya Upadhyay/Economic Times

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Chennai airport operations pose major threat to passengers

Chennai: Describing the near-miss on Saturday as a "serious incident", senior aviation and navigation experts said Chennai airport operations were posing a major threat to passenger safety as the Airports Authority of India (AAI) does not consult the air traffic control (ATC) or the pilots while making any changes to flight navigation. They also point out that AAI has ignored the need for rapid exit taxiways in the multi-crore airport expansion project in Chennai.
V Krishnan, senior advisor of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, said Saturday's incident, which occurred due to the closure of the taxiway, was neither the mistake of the landed aircraft nor the ATC officials. "Rejecting the take-off of Jet Airways and decision to 'go around' by the Air India pilot were timely decisions coordinated by the ATC. Neither the ATC nor the aircraft could be blamed. Rather, they averted a major accident," said Krishnan, a member of the Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council that was constituted after the Mangalore plane crash. Krishnan said Chennai needed a rapid exit taxiway to reduce the runway occupancy time. "Even the new taxiway being built in the airport does not have the provisions of a rapid exit for the aircraft. We should not fail to take up the need for a rapid exit track when we proceed with a major expansion project," he said.
26/09/11 Arun Janardhanan/Times of India

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Aircraft acquisition in interest of nation: Patel

Bhandra: Union minister for heavy industries Praful Patel, who was in the eye of a controversy over the acquisition of 111 aircraft for Air India during his tenure as civil aviation minister, on Saturday charged that the opposition parties and a section of the media were targeting and trying to malign his image.
Addressing a press conference at MIT Engineering College auditorium in Gondia, Patel defended the decision, saying that in fierce aviation competition it is difficult to run the companies like Air India and Indian Airlines unless some bold decisions are taken. He refuted the allegations levelled against him by Dr Gopal Kondawar, a businessman from Nagpur, that as a civil aviation minister in UPA-I, Patel had sacrificed the interests of these two government-owned airlines that benefitted the private sector companies. Dr Kondawar had alleged that induction of new aircraft in the fleet by spending billions of dollars had caused heavy losses while the private airlines raked in money. But Patel termed the charges as baseless and said the aircraft were acquired to revive the fortunes of the government-owned airlines.
26/09/11 Times of India

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Air India on-time performance improving; losses coming down

Struggling hard to tide over the financial crisis , the State-owned Air India has made valiant efforts to improve its on-time performance (OTP), achieving 100 per cent on-time performance of its flights on September 20 and 21 from Mumbai and Delhi. Overall OTP of Air India this month has been over 80 per cent on the domestic and international networks.
At a review meeting taken by Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi here on Friday, the new Air India Chairman and Managing Director Rohit Nandan gave a broad view on the overall improvement in the operational and financial performance of the carrier. The meeting was also attended by Civil Aviation Secretary Nasim Zaidi and other senior ministry officials.
Mr. Nandan said that on-time performance of Air India flights was being continuously monitored at the highest level. All executive directors of the regions have been made responsible for monitoring, analysing the causes of the delay and taking adequate measures to resolve the problem.
25/09/11 Vinay Kumar/The Hindu

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Major air mishap averted at Chennai airport

Chennai: A major air mishap was averted at Chennai airport on Saturday when a Delhi-bound private airliner which had been cleared for take-off stopped on the runway just as an Air India flight was about to land.
Airport authorities have sought explanation from Jet Airways as to why the aircraft was stopped despite it being cleared for take-off.
Airport sources said the Delhi-bound Jet Airways plane was taxiing on the runway at 8.40 am when it stopped at the end moment. At the same time, the Chennai-bound Air India flight from Delhi was given landing permission by the Air Traffic Control (ATC).
New Indian Express/IBN Live

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PAC to examine CAG reports on KG Basin, Air India

New Delhi: Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee on Friday decided to take up for examination the Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s reports on KG basin and the performance of Air India.
The PAC, at a meeting chaired by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi, decided to start examining the government auditor’s performance audits of the “Hydrocarbaon Production Sharing Contracts” and “Civil Aviation in India”.
The Committee is yet to draw a schedule for examining the two reports.
The two reports were tabled in Parliament on September 8, the last day of the six-week long monsoon session.
The CAG had sharply criticised Reliance Industries and the Oil Ministry for violation of contract over the showpiece KG-D6 gas block and called for revamping the current profit-sharing arrangement that reduces government revenues.
However, the audit report does not quantify how much the government lost when Reliance hiked capital expenditure at the nation’s biggest gas field from $2.4 billion proposed in 2004 to $8.8 billion estimate in 2006.
23/09/11 PTI/The Hindu

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Chidambaram unhappy with AI’s financial revival plan by SBI Caps

New Delhi: Home minister P Chidambaram, a member of the group of ministers (GoM) on Air India, has expressed doubts over the feasibility of the airline’s financial revival plan prepared by consultancy firm SBI Caps. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, who heads the GoM, was also not too happy with the proposal and told Air India in the latest GoM meeting that equity infusion in the airline, one of the components of the revival package, can happen only after the GoM considered all relevant aspects.
The investment banker, SBI Caps, has suggested conversion of 60% of the total working capital debt of the carrier into long-term loan at a lower interest rate and issue of cumulative preference shares for the remaining amount. This has not impressed the home minister, sources said. Chidambaram is learnt to have said in the GoM meeting that the proposal — the short summary of which is that the airline requires a debt write-off and also infusion of equity — might not offer a solution given the present financial performance of the firm.
On his part, Mukherjee asked the civil aviation ministry to expedite the financial restructuring plan of Air India, while addressing the queries raised by the department of expenditure. Mukherjee has made it clear that the next round of equity infusion in Air India will only happen after the report of a Group of Officers was examined. A committee of officers headed by the special secretary (expenditure) in the finance ministry is in the process of vetting the ‘ambitious’ turnaround plan prepared by advisory firm Deloitte.
23/09/11 Ashish Sinha, Nirbhay Kumar/Financial Express

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Revised AI plan projects operational profit in 5 yrs

New Delhi: Air India will start making operating profit five years after its turnaround plan is implemented, says the revised outlook of the company. The new plan is likely to be discussed in the meeting of the group of ministers to be held next week.
Air India had earlier projected it would start making operating profits from the first year after the turnaround plan is implemented. A finance ministry sub-committee, formed to review the initial plan, had asked the airline to revise its projections and targets since in the earlier turnaround plan, which projects operational profit from the first year itself.
“According to the revised plan, we will start making operational profit after five years of the implementation of the plan and become a profitable airline in three years after that,” said a senior Air India official, requesting anonymity. The carrier has accumulated losses of Rs 20,000 crore since 2007.
The projections in the new turnaround plan are on the basis of a growth rate of 12 per cent per annum annum compared to a growth rate of 18 per cent in the earlier plan.
Under the new plan, the airline has demanded an equity infusion of Rs 43,000 crore till 2021. For the current year, it wants infusion of Rs 8,373 crore, an upfront equity infusion of Rs 6,600 crore and support of Rs 1,772 crore in the form of a guarantee on short-term loans for this financial year.
Of this, the government had already infused Rs 1,200 crore in the current financial year.
22/09/11 Mihir Mishra/Business Standard

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Air India to focus on tier II & tier III cities

In a big shift in its business strategy, national carrier Air India wants to focus on tier II and tier III cities. The airline plans to have a dedicated fleet shuttle only for smaller centers according a senior company official.
This proposal is part of the new turn around plan that is been reviewed by the government. Currently in the domestic market 80% of the capacity is dedicated for metro routes and only 20% for smaller centers. '50% of the total capacity will fly only on tier II & tier III routes by 2015 if the plan gets approved' said the source.
All small cities between 0-750 miles from the main hubs (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkatta & Chennai) will be covered under this plan.
21/09/11 Sameer Hashmi/Economic Times

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Firm's fortunes hinge on Boeing 787, say experts

New Delhi/mumbai: Air India will lose its first-mover advantage if it cancels its order for 27 Boeing 787 planes, as the waiting period for new orders is upto 10 years, said an aviation industry source.
AI will receive its first Boeing 787 plane by the year-end, while the first ever Boeing 787 Dreamliner will be delivered to Japan's All Nippon Airways next week.
The fate of the Air India-Boeing deal hangs in balance till the government clears the purchase. Last week, the Air India board referred the proposal to acquire Boeing 787s to the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee-led Empowered Group of Ministers.
Earlier last week, Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi had said AI does not have the money to buy new planes, fuelling speculations that the airline will cancel or defer the order.
“Air India does not have a medium haul aircraft which it can use to connect West Asia, South Europe, Far East and Tokyo. Air India had 20 airbus A-310 planes and the Boeing 787 is a replacement for them. The B-787 has a range of 13 hours, burns less fuel, carries 50 percent more cargo. Its a brand new plane and will have less maintenance.That makes it attractive for Air India. Since its a new plane Air India will be able to charge premium on its fares and yields will be higher,” said an aviation industry source.
22/09/11 Business Standard

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Air India comes up with new scheme at competitive rates

New Delhi: Air India on Wednesday announced the extension of its short term promotion scheme, Silver and Platinum Pass aimed at providing air travel at competitive and affordable rates.
The Silver and Platinum Pass being offered in two variants for unlimited travel in economy and executive class on the domestic sectors of the national carrier will now be valid for fifteen days, the airlines said.
Passengers buying the Silver Pass can fly on economy class to any domestic sector of their choice at a fare of Rs 35,000 any number of times during the 15-day period.
Passengers who purchase the Platinum Pass can enjoy unlimited trips in executive class to any domestic destination at a fare Rs 75,000. This fare is inclusive of taxes, Air India said.
21/09/11 PTI/Economic Times

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GoM may decide on fund infusion in AI next week

Bangalore: The civil aviation minister Vayalar Ravi said on Monday that the Group of Ministers (GoM) might take a call on a fresh round of equity infusion into the troubled national carrier Air India in a meeting scheduled next week.
"Our idea is to bring in cash flows. I believe in six months Air India can come to a position, not a profitable one, but in a position where the airline can stand on its feet," said Ravi. He was speaking on the sidelines of the Regional Centenary Celebrations of Civil Aviation in India.
The GoM will also discuss other recommendations to bring the airline back into profitability.
The government has already infused Rs 2,000 crore into the fund-starved carrier in the past two financial years. The airline has to repay a debt of Rs 43,000 crore.
20/09/11 Times of India

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HC asks Centre how it plans to pay AI dues

Mumbai: The Bombay high court is getting a tad tired of Air India constantly expressing its inability to pay the dues it owes to a large number of its staff.
On Tuesday, the HC directed that the central government must now file an affidavit to indicate how and by when it proposes to pay the staff. The Centre has two weeks to file its affidavit.
Air India, the country's national airline, owes Rs 74 crore in salary revision arrears to several groups of its executive staff, including cabin crew and some pilots.
A bench of Justices Dilip Bhosale and V K Tahilramani said the airline can no longer leave its staff hanging in the air and "has to set a deadline". It could pay in phases but it must fix a schedule, the HC said, while hearing a clutch of petitions against AI for their unpaid dues. The airline's counsel, Sudhir Talsania, said AI could not afford to pay the dues right now.
Senior counsel J P Cama, appearing for a group of retired executive cabin crew, pointed to the rot in the management of the airline and said, "If AI cannot afford to pay, the Centre should."
21/09/11 Swati Deshpande/Times of India

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AI major hindrance in Surat’s air connectivity?

Surat: At least 25 courier delivery men carry diamonds worth crores of rupees from Surat to Mumbai every day in a train. They return next day afternoon with cargo worth several crores under protection of armed guards.
Diamond barons think carrying valuable goods in trains is dangerous. Besides they say travelling consumes a lot of time.
The diamond barons are ready to book seats for a month for their men in flights to Mumbai as it is both safe and fast. A private air service operator sees business opportunity in this and has come forward to start flight service with a 19 seat aircraft between Mumbai and Surat. However, for loss making national carrier Air India, it does not matter.
Air India has turned a blind eye to the legitimate demands of people in places like Surat, said a senior official from South Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
21/09/11 Himanshu Bhatt/Times of India

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Air India begging for survival, says Vayalar Ravi

New Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi is fighting the battle of his life to save national carrier Air India from bankruptcy. But it's not an easy job.
In an exclusive interview to Headlines Today, Ravi says he has to beg the Finance Ministry every month to pay salaries of Air India employees.
"Every month end I go to Pranab Mukerjee's house at 12 o'clock in the night and so he asks me 'why have you come?' To which, I say I need Rs 200 crore. Arre Rs 200 crore in the night? Which means, I have to get the money from him for the salaries also. I need to be in a position, where I can depend on myself. That is my first step," Ravi told Headlines Today on Tuesday.
This is sorry tale of a man with perhaps the toughest job in government right now: turning around the troubled national carrier.
The minister claims he has already started working towards it.
"The various directors for important posts are missing. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has told me to appoint members from the open market and most of them have been filled now: HR, finance, marketing and commercial and also certain propositions. So, the team has come. Now, we are looking at the process, by which we can help save the posts, save the money and the areas from where we can get more cash flow," says Ravi.
20/09/11 India Today

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Government mulls more funds to keep Air India flying

Bangalore: The central government is open to infusing more funds into the cash-strapped state-run Air India Ltd to keep it flying, union Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi said Monday.
"The government is committed to look after Air India. We will ensure it has a cash flow and is in a better position to meet its expenditure like salary and fuel charges," Ravi told reporters on the margins of a civil aviation conference.
Admitting that the debt-ridden and loss-making national carrier would not turn profitable in the immediate future, Ravi said the strategy was to make the airline stand on its feet in the next six months.
"I think situation will improve. The prime minister (Manmohan Singh) has agreed for appointing four directors from outside the organsation to the posts of marketing, human resources, finance and commercial," Ravi said after inaugurating the regional celebration of "Civil Aviation Centenary" and addressing a seminar on the "Strategies for Growth of Civil Aviation in the Current Decade", orgainsed by the Society of Indian Aerospace Technologies & Industries (Siati).
19/09/11 IANS/Economic Times

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AI connects Bhubaneswar-Kolkata, again

Bhubaneswar : After a gap of over three years, Air India has decided to reintroduce a daily flight connecting Bhubaneswar and Kolkata from September 23.
The aircraft will leave Kolkata at 6.50 pm and arrive in Bhubaneswar at 7.35 pm. On its return journey, the flight will take off from Biju Patnaik Airport at 8.05 pm and will land at Kolkata at 8.50 pm.
20/09/11 Times of India

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Government mulls more funds to keep Air India flying

Bangalore: The central government is open to infusing more funds into the cash-strapped state-run Air India Ltd to keep it flying, union Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi said Monday.

"The government is committed to look after Air India. We will ensure it has a cash flow and is in a better position to meet its expenditure like salary and fuel charges," Ravi told reporters on the margins of a civil aviation conference.

Admitting that the debt-ridden and loss-making national carrier would not turn profitable in the immediate future, Ravi said the strategy was to make the airline stand on its feet in the next six months.

"I think situation will improve. The prime minister (Manmohan Singh) has agreed for appointing four directors from outside the organsation to the posts of marketing, human resources, finance and commercial," Ravi said after inaugurating the regional celebration of "Civil Aviation Centenary" and addressing a seminar on the "Strategies for Growth of Civil Aviation in the Current Decade", orgainsed by the Society of Indian Aerospace Technologies & Industries (Siati).

With the appointment of civil aviation joint secretary Rohit Nandan as the new chairman and managing director (CMD) of Air-India August 12, the ministry is waiting for the outcome of the group of ministers constituted to restore the airline's health.

19/09/11 IANS/Economic Times

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