Air India Replaces Sharjah-Kochi Service with Dubai–Kochi Flights

Air India has cancelled operations on Sharjah-Kochi route with effect from January 11, 2016 leaving Sharjah’s Indian community to depend on Air India Express and other budget carriers. 

However, in response to increased demand on the sector, Air India is starting Dubai–Kochi-Dubai non-stop flights on the same day, but without business class. 

Aircraft - Airbus A320  ; Seats - 180

Dubai-Kochi Flight AI 934

Dep Dubai   - 1330 

Arr   Kochi  - 1910  

Kochi - Dubai flight AI 933 

Dep Kochi - 0935 

Arr Dubai  - 1235 

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All passengers who have booked on Air India’s Sharjah-Kochi-Sharjah route have to go to their travel agents to change their tickets free of cost. Air India is also offering customers an introductory fare of Dhs 330 one-way and Dhs 785 return with 30 kg baggage on the Dubai-Kochi route as per Melvin D’Silva, regional manager, Air India. It is also offering passengers on this route online check-in facility and selection of their preferred seats 24 hours before flight time by visiting the carrier’s website and selecting the Internet check-in option. 

Reactions from Indian residents to the shifting of the Kochi service from Sharjah to Dubai by Air India have been mixed.

“Demand for flights from Sharjah is relatively lower than from Dubai Airport because of accessibility, connectivity and duty free shopping. However, flying daily from Dubai to Kochi without business class may not be good because there are many local and international business passengers flying to Kochi for business and medical treatment. The airline has many Dreamliners but such high-end aircraft are not used on this route,” said an official of a travel agency selling Air India tickets. “Unlike Kozhikode Airport which can handle only smaller aircraft, Kochi can handle any big aircraft but the airline is not utilising its full potential,” he added.

Air India currently operates 74 flights per week to and from Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. The airline, along with its low-cost subsidiary Air India Express, operates 300 flights a week from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries to India.

Despite the huge Indian diaspora in the GCC, Air India has been struggling to compete with the big three Gulf Airlines – Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar Airways which have been expanding Indian services.

However, Air India has seen its overall performance improve in the last year due mainly to lower fuel costs, growing passenger demand and minimised aircraft inefficiencies.

Air India is expected to report a profit – the first since its merger with Indian Airlines in 2007 – of close to USD 900,000 in the current fiscal year.

Air India has also announced plans to launch a new service linking Delhi with Gorakhpur, a city located close to the border with Nepal in Uttar Pradesh.

Commencing on 15 January, the route will be operated every day except Sunday

Aircraft - ATR turboprop  ; Seats - 70

Flight AI 9809 

Dep  Delhi  1215 

Arr  Gorakhpur 1415 

The return flight, AI 9810

Dep Gorakhpur - 1445 

Arr Delhi -  1645 

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Passengers travelling to and from Gorakhpur will be offered connections to a range of international destinations.

This is the latest destination to be added by Air India under its ‘Connecting India’ programme, which aims to serve smaller regional cities. Other new services have included Mumbai-Gwalior, Delhi-Durgapur and Kolkata-Durgapur.

Air India Hiring 500 Pilots on contract Basis; Bond Amount- Rs 10 Million

PTI inputs | Jan 11, 2016

As Air India struggles to pay its debt, it is going to hire over 500 type-rated pilots on contract basis for the carrier's narrow-body fleet, which is expected to grow to about 80 aircraft by March 2018. This is slated to be one of the largest-ever pilot recruitment drives. A few days ago, a senior Air India pilot had to pay around Rs 2.4 lakh as fine for allegedly lifting a pair of sunglasses from a duty-free shop at the Mumbai airport and reported in the media.

This exercise might enable Air India to operate more flights and earn more revenue. The operating losses might hopefully decrease. The present strength of the narrow-body fleet is 66.The fresh hiring of 534 Airbus A320 pilots is in line with Air India's aircraft induction plans and aimed at overcoming the shortage which has many times led to cancellation of its flights at the last minute, according to a source.

At present Air India has 1,441 pilots, with 670 of them flying 66 A320 family aircraft. Besides, another 70 pilots are under training. Air India's pilots strength will cross 2,000 by May this year when the recruitment exercise gets completed, the source said.

"We will be inducting 29 more A320s including 14 A320neos between April this year and March 2018. In line with this induction programme, we are recruiting 534 type-rated pilots as well on a contract basis," an Air India source told PTI. 

Type rating is a regulating agencies certification given to a pilot to fly a certain aircraft type that requires additional training, which involves huge cost, beyond the scope of the initial license and aircraft class training. 

The national carrier has added 66 A320 family aircraft in its fleet besides Boeing planes. It has already tied up with a Kuwaiti aircraft lessor to lease 14 A320neos, which are to be delivered by March 2017.

In addition to this, Air India would soon float tenders for leasing of 15 A320s to augment capacity.

"At the same time, we will also be phasing out some old classic A320s from the fleet. We expect our overall narrow body (A320 family) fleet to stand at around 75-80 aircraft by the end of March 2018," the source said.

Air India has tweaked hiring norms after a number of pilots quit the carrier and moved to private airlines after acquiring high high-cost type-rated training at its expenses, the source said. (See Jewel)

Read Stop Poaching.

“The new pilots joining Air India will have to sign a bond and submit bank guarantee totalling Rs one crore, which will be encashed if a pilot decides to quit the airline before the expiry of his contract,” the source said.

As many as 173 Air India pilots have resigned from the national carrier since 2012, with the maximum being those operating the narrow body Airbus A320 family aircraft, Government had said in Parliament recently.

Of these, 72 pilots operating the narrow-body Airbus A320 family fleet have resigned, while 38 pilots each of Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Boeing 777, eight of Boeing 747 and 17 of Boeing 737 fleet have quit between 2012 and October this year, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju had said during the Winter session of Parliament.

At present, the cost of training a pilot for an Airbus family of planes stands at Rs 4.01 lakh per pilot while the type rating cost per pilot comes to nearly Rs 23 lakh.

TIRUCHIRAPALLI: An Airport with More Foreign Operations than Domestic

TIRUCHIRAPALLI International Airport has continuously been witnessing an upswing in passenger and freight movements. The unique thing about it is that it has seen more overseas flights than domestic over the years. 

Trichy airport is one of the fastest growing international airports in India. It is the third largest airport in Tamilnadu in terms of passenger and cargo traffic after Chennai and Coimbatore International Airports.

However, there have been various long pending issues regarding Trichy airport. Several rounds of official discussions and representations from public welfare bodies have been held in the past. One major issue has been the expansion of the runway that would eventually facilitate the operation of wide-bodied aircraft from and to Trichy . AAI has decided to expand the runway to around 3,200 m (10,500 ft) initially from the existing 2,480 m (8,136 ft) and later to 3,800 m (12,500 ft). The runway expansion requires 510.30 acres of land of which over 160 acres belongs to the defense. Although the defense ministry had accorded “in-principle” approval for providing about 168.4 acres of its land adjoining the airport, it had sought alternative land of equal value in exchange. Despite several rounds of meetings involving the district administration, runway expansion work is yet to take off. 

The number of foreign flights from Trichy airport keep growing, but it has remained confined only to select overseas destinations. Direct connectivity to key Middle East destinations has been hugely missed by the travel industry and other public who have raised this issue on many occasions.

Air India Express has given Trichy the only direct connectivity to Dubai. There is a large number of people from central and southern districts employed in various Middle East destinations like Kuwait, Riyadh, Damam, Jeddah, Abu Dhabi and Doha. The absence of direct connectivity to these destinations forces passengers to travel via Chennai or Colombo. The Sri Lankan Airlines operates from here profitably.

2 years have passed since a notification allowing international courier operations through Trichy However, courier shipments are yet to take off from the Trichy airport which has seen a significant upward trend in overseas cargo movement.

There is a hope that the facility would be launched in 2016.  It is felt that launch of courier operations would change the profile of overseas freight shipments from Trichy - majority of which are perishable commodities sold overseas. Although the Airports Authority of India and the Customs have held discussion on this issue, international courier operation continues to remain on paper.

Union Civil Aviation Minister P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju paid his maiden visit to Trichy to study the various issues related to the international airport at Trichy. He interacted with the media after a meeting with the stakeholders at the Trichy International Airport, Replying to a query by the  media on the delay in executing Trichy airport runway expansion plan, Mr. Raju mentioned that the land acquisition was a State subject, and the Centre and the Tamil Nadu state government would work together for its development. 

He appeared optimistic on the implementation of the new aviation policy that is being formulated. "The new civil aviation policy  would make the Indian skies vibrant by promoting regional connectivity," he said.

Travel and trade circles also raised a number of points;  a strong pitch was proposed on a slew of issues connected with Tiruchi international airport during a meeting with the Minister. Mr M. Sekaran, president, Air, Rail and Road Travelers Federation, said, "Non-inclusion of Trichy airport as a point of call under the Bi Lateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) has restricted operations to West Asian destinations by many overseas carriers. Given the rising air passenger traffic and the demand, time has come for the Ministry of Civil Aviation to include Trichy airport as a point of call under the BASA which would enable new carriers to operate flights to more West Asian destinations. This would not only address the long pending passengers’ demand, but also enhance overseas cargo movement from Trichy airport thereby augmenting revenue for the Airports Authority of India. 

The minister held discussions with airport officials on the status of land acquisition required for the extension of the runway and bringing the airport under the bilateral air services agreement (BASA).

"A major thrust will be given to Indian players than foreign carriers for flying to Gulf countries," the minister has said. He stressed that the Centre was keen that the advantage should go to the Indian aviation players.

Making it clear that the Centre was not against foreign players operating services from India to other overseas destinations, the Minister said that the government wanted Indian players to go truly global, and the Centre was trying to motivate Indian aviation players to operate more services to foreign destinations that would prove beneficial to them.

Air India Struggles to Lessen Debt; its Peddar Road Flats to be Sold for Rs 900 million.

While the share prices of its contemporaries Indigo, Jet and Spice Jet are breaking life time highs, Air India is struggling. Its debt burden is about Rs 40,000 crore. It is surviving on a bailout package approved in 2012. At times Air India is forced to ground its planes because of its inability to pay for spares. 

Trying to stay afloat

Faced with such a huge debt burden apart of interest thereon, the national carrier has been exploring various options to raise money to meet its funding requirements. Earlier, it had mopped up Rs 7000 cr by selling 9 of its planes.

These options also include sale of properties and land parcels. Under the asset monetisation plan, Air India has to mop up Rs 5,000 crore over a 10-year period, starting from 2013-14, in a bid to bridge the widening mismatch in its revenue and expenditure. The asset monetisation plan was approved by the erstwhile  UPA government along with Air India's turnaround plan by its Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs in April 2012 with a committed public funding of Rs 30,231 crore, staggered over a period of nine years, with some specific riders.

Today Air India has four premium flats in the Mumbai's up-market Peddar Road area. Each of these 3-BHK flats has a carpet area of 2,033 sq ft. Air India was looking to sell these flats for the past two years. In August 2013, it had also floated bids for e-auctioning of these four flats. State Bank of India, the country's largest state-owned lender, is all set to buy the flats from Air India for Rs 90 crore. It will be an all-cash deal.

The legal team of Air India is preparing a draft sale agreement which will then be given to the counterparts from the SBI.

  

The government recently gave its permission to state-owned Air India to sell the said flats to SBI for about Rs 90 crore as part the airline's asset monetisation plan. 

SBI is planning to allocate these four flats to its top executives. SBI has already taken two floors in the nearly-empty 22-storey Air India Towers at Nariman Point, which till a few years ago was the headquarters of the national carrier Air India.   

See also : Air India Maintenance Standards  

Earlier, Air India hiked the penalty for pilots leaving the airline within five years of joining from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 50 lakh. The move was aimed at checking the mass exodus of pilots and ensuring the cash-strapped Maharaja recovers the cost it incurs on training them. (See To prevent Poaching)

A batch of 25 fresh commercial pilot licence holders (CPL) joining the airline in the coming days will be made to sign a bond and give a bank guarantee that will collectively amount to Rs 50 lakh. 

AI chairman Ashwani Lohani

"We will soon make the combined bank guarantee-cum-bond amount Rs 50 lakh for type-rated pilots who join us and up to Rs 1 crore for non-type rated pilots," AI chairman Ashwani Lohani told media. "This will be clearly mentioned in our future job ads." 

Air India Held Responsible for Causing Mental Agony to its Passenger

May 2012.

South Mumbai District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum

Complaint case: Saurabh Agarwal Vs Air India

Saurabh Agarwal, a resident of Cuffe Parade, had booked tickets for his family from Mumbai to Singapore and then a connecting flight from Singapore to Jakarta.

Air India, why do you harass your own customer?

"After the booking of the tickets, there was a rescheduling of the airways. So the complainant received a message from the airlines' call centre in advance. Even after the rescheduling of the flight timings, there was a delay of three more hours in arrival of the flight. The airlines' representatives mentioned that since there was a delay in Chennai from where the plane was about to depart, the arrival was also delayed. Because of this delay, the complainant's family missed the connecting flight that they had to board from Singapore to Jakarta. When the complainant approached the company seeking a solution for the issue, the representatives failed to entertain the grievance and the complainant had to buy new tickets from Singapore to Jakarta," read the complaint.

"Our staff was on strike that day" was the excuse given by Air India.

The complainant then approached the forum and filed a complaint against the airlines. The forum, after hearing the consumer's grievance, asked the company to file its reply.

The company, in its reply, claimed the delay was caused due to the industrial unrest, as the pilots had observed a strike a week before the incident. The airlines also claimed that it cannot be held responsible for the loss of money that the complainant had to face, because of his journey from some other airlines company.

Air India CMD

December 2015.

The south Mumbai district consumer dispute redressal forum pulled up the national carrier Air India (AI) for providing negligent services to one of its consumers. Penalising the airlines, the forum asked it to pay an amount of Rs 20,000 towards mental agony of the passenger and an amount of Rs 23,000 for the complainant's extra expense towards the airfare.

After going through the evidence brought in record, the forum held it was the duty of the company to ensure that its consumers received promised services. The forum further held that since there was a delay in the first flight, the complainant missed out on his connecting flight, which caused him and his family mental agony as well as monetary loss. Hence, the airlines was penalised.

Moral of the story : Consumers, be aware of your rights. Fight for it where necessary. 

Airlines, do not take customers' services lightly. Do not give such excuses as staff strikes, unrest, etc. in courts.