News on air travel in india

Ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-promoted Akasa Air’s first aircraft Boeing 737 MAX arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday, bringing it closer to securing the mandatory Air Operator Permit to start operations.

The airline had received the ceremonial keys for the aircraft in Seattle, the US, on June 15, Akasa Air said in a statement.

This is the first delivery out of the 72 Boeing 737 Max planes that Akasa Air placed an order with Boeing last November.

“Akasa Air today, welcomed the arrival of the first of its 72 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, in the presence of its leadership team,” the airline said in the statement.

“The arrival of our first aircraft is a very happy moment for all of us and marks an important milestone, bringing us closer to our vision of building India’s greenest, most dependable, and most affordable airline,” said Vinay Dube, founder, managing director and chief executive officer, Akasa Air.

Akasa Air is a prime example of the progress made by Indian aviation in recent years, he said, adding “this is not just a significant milestone for us and Indian aviation, but it’s the story of a new India”.

Boeing is proud to partner with Akasa Air as they embark on their journey towards making air travel inclusive and affordable for all, said Boeing India president Salil Gupte.

“India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and offers enormous growth and productivity opportunities for the aviation industry.

“We are excited that the advanced 737 MAX will help Akasa Air drive efficiencies in business and operations while providing its customers with a superior flying experience,” he added.

State carrier Air India on Friday barred Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad, who had assaulted its staffer, from its flights and even cancelled his return ticket to Pune from Delhi.

Gaikwad, who has been unapologetic about the incident on Thursday, had earlier on Friday said that he will be taking the Air India flight in the evening.

Air India said it has also written to the Shiv Sena communicating the decision to cancel the ticket. Shiv Sena Secretary Anil Desai said that he has asked Gaikwad to change his travel plans as the party doesn’t want the tensions to escalate.

Gaikwad was booked on Delhi to Pune flight AI 849 scheduled for departure at 4 pm on Friday.

“We have intimated Shiv Sena that we can’t fly Gaikwad on his return flight because our employees are agitated. He has assured us that the party will advise the MP not to fly Air India today,” said an Air India source.

WATCH THE VIDEO OF GAIKWAD HITTING THE AIR INDIA STAFFER

“Our airport employees have said that they won’t attend to him and they won’t let him enter. In order to avoid any violence, we have written to Shiv Sena,” he added.

Budget carrier IndiGo also refused to take him on board.

The Sena MP had booked a ticket on IndiGo flight to Pune for Friday evening, which has been cancelled by the airline, sources said.

“He had booked on IndiGo’s fight today at 1750 hours from Delhi to Pune. But the airline has cancelled the booking and is refunding the entire amount,” the source told PTI .

In a related development, Tata-SIA joint venture carrier Vistara also joined the national carrier Air India and four private carriers’ decision to ban Gaikwad from flying.

Disruptive and abusive behaviour by passengers is a serious issue and cannot be tolerated, both for safety and security reasons in a critical and sensitive industry such as aviation, as well for the safety and well-being of our staff and all other passengers, a Vistara spokesperson said.

“We support the statement made by Air India and the FIA, and are in full solidarity with them in support of the ban. The concerned individual will be barred from flying on any of our flights with immediate effect,” the spokesperson said.

The airline also supports the promulgation of a “no-fly” list and concurs with the FIA and Air India in seeking the support of the Government and security agencies to enforce such a directive whereby passengers on the “no fly list” will not be permitted to fly on any of the airlines, Vistara said.

Gaikwad told TV channels on Friday morning, “I am booked on a 4 pm flight to Pune. I will take that flight. How can they not let me travel when I have a booking and I am their passenger.”

Desai, also an MP, said that he has “acceded” to Air India’s request and has also asked Gaikwad to “change his travel plans”.

“An Air India official called me that their staff is upset over the issue. I have acceded to their request by asking my MP not to go ahead with his plan to fly Air India today,” said Desai .

“I have also asked him to change his travel plans. We don’t intend to escalate the tension,” he added.

Earlier, The Federation of Indian Airlines, which has Jet Airways, IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir as its members, has taken a “strong view of the incident and accordingly taken a decision to bar Gaikwad from flying,” an FIA source said.

The FIA will not allow the Sena MP to fly on its member carriers, the source said.

It is likely to come out with a detailed statement on the issue soon.

Meanwhile, budget carrier IndiGo on Friday said it will support any move which bars unruly passengers from flying, a day after Air India said it was mulling preparing a no-fly list for such people.

“We will support a no-fly list,” IndiGo President and Whole Time Director Aditya Ghosh said.

Disagree with the Shiv Sena MP’s actions? BOO him!

The Tata Group-owned Air India has decided to procure its maiden batch of wide-bodied A350 aircraft of Airbus and the first plane is likely to be delivered to the airline by March 2023, sources have said.

However, it was not immediately clear how many A350 aircraft will be purchased by Air India.

Air India has not bought a single aircraft since 2006 when it had placed orders for purchasing 111 aircraft — 68 from the US-based aircraft manufacturer Boeing and 43 from European aircraft manufacturer Airbus.

A wide-bodied plane like Airbus A350 has a bigger fuel tank that allows it to travel longer distances such as India-US routes.

The Tata Group took control of Air India on January 27 after successfully winning the bid for the airline on October 8 last year.

Sources on Wednesday said Air India has started asking its senior pilots if they will be interested in getting the “conversion training” to operate A350 aircraft.

Air India’s pilots are trained to operate the wide-bodied aircraft of Boeing. Therefore, they have to undergo “conversion training” to operate A350 aircraft of Airbus.

According to Air India’s website, the airline has total 49 wide-bodied aircraft — 18 Boeing B777, 4 Boeing B747 and 27 B787 — in its fleet. The carrier has 79 narrow-bodied planes in its fleet too.

Sources said Air India is purchasing A350 aircraft and is likely to get its first A350 plane by March 2023.

Since April, the airline’s chairman N Chandrasekaran — who also is the chairman of the Tata Group — has rejigged the top management of the airline, bringing in senior and middle-level executives who have worked in other companies of the Tata Group such as Tata Steel and Vistara.

Air India and Airbus did not respond to PTI’s queries regarding the aircraft procurement.

Tata Group-owned Air India is considering buying more than 200 new planes with 70 per cent of them being narrow-bodied aircraft, aviation industry sources said on Sunday.

While Air India has zeroed in on Airbus’s A350 wide-bodied aircraft for the procurement, the talks with Airbus and Boeing for narrow-bodied aircraft is still on, they said.

A wide-bodied plane like Airbus A350 has a bigger fuel tank that allows it to travel longer distances such as the India-US routes.

Air India has not bought a single aircraft since 2006 when it placed orders for purchasing 111 aircraft – 68 from the US-based aircraft manufacturer Boeing and 43 from European aircraft manufacturer Airbus.

The Tata Group took control of Air India on January 27 after successfully winning the bid for the airline on October 8 last year.

On the sidelines of 78th annual general meeting of International Air Transport Association, aviation industry sources said Air India is considering buying 200 new planes.

The share of narrow-bodied aircraft to that of wide-bodied planes will be 70:30.

They said that the decision on which narrow-bodied plane to buy – to go for Airbus A320 family aircraft or Boeing’s 737Max aircraft – is yet to be taken.

According to Air India’s website, the airline has a total of 49 wide-bodied aircraft – 18 Boeing B777, 4 Boeing B747 and 27 Boeing B787 – in its fleet.

The carrier has 79 narrow-bodied planes in its fleet too.

The revised check-in baggage limit is effective from Saturday

A day after announcing its ticket prices at par with AC II of Rajdhani trains, National carrier Air India, on Friday, came out with another lucrative offer for its passengers allowing enhanced free check-in baggage on its jumbo 747 flights operating on the trunk Delhi-Mumbai route.

Besides, the carrier also announced heavily discounted fares, starting at Rs 15,000 for travel in first class of its Queen of the Skies (Boeing 747) flights to the two cities till January 15, a release said.

The revised check-in baggage limit is effective from Saturday, it said.

Air India had commenced the 423 seater Boeing 747 services between New Delhi and Mumbai early last month.

At present, Air India allows 25kg in economy class and 35kg in business class of free check-in baggage on its flights, which has now been increased to 40 kg and 50 kg, respectively, on Boeing 747 Delhi- Mumbai service, the airline said in the release.

As against this, private carriers allow only 15 kg of free baggage to passengers across their domestic flights.

“Following its successful decision to deploy the iconic Boeing 747 on Delhi-Mumbai route from December 13 last year, Air India will now allow up to 40kg and 50kg of free check-in baggage for both economy and business class passengers on these flights,” it said.

Air India is the only carrier to operate the 423 seater, four engine jumbo jet B747, on this busiest route (Delhi-Mumbai) of the country, the release said adding the aircraft offers a premium value to passengers with the most private and exclusive accommodation in the sky with 12 First class seats on the upper deck of the aircraft, 26 seats in business, and the rest 385 in economy.