Air India today said it plans to expand its base in the US by adding Los Angeles and Houston as new destinations, a day after launching the state-carrier’s first direct flight from Delhi to Washington DC. “We are looking at connecting two more cities -– Los Angeles and either Houston or Dallas,” Air India Chairman and MD Ashwani Lohani said at an event to celebrate the launch of the direct non-stop flight yesterday between the capitals of the two largest democracies of the world.

NEW DELHI: State-owned Air India today launched its first flight to Washington DC from New Delhi, thereby adding its fifth destination in the US.

Air India has deployed its 238-seater Boeing 777-200 LR aircraft to cater to the new direct service to the US. The plane offers eight seats in first class, 35 in business and 195 in economy class.

The Air Conditioning (AC) system in a New Delhi-bound Air India flight AI-880, an Airbus 320 which took off from West Bengal's Bagdogra malfunctioned on Saturday, leaving passengers gasping for breath.

In a video that has gone viral, the livid passengers can be seen fanning themselves and complaining to the staff onboard about the malfunction, but to no avail.

InterGlobe Aviation, which runs the low-cost carrier IndiGo, has expressed an interest in acquiring the loss-making Air India. Civil aviation secretary RN Choubey said on Thursday that the company has written a letter to the ministry. The Cabinet had on Thursday has given an in-principle nod to the disinvestment of Air India. The final modalities of the divestment, including the quantum of stake sale, would be formalised by a group of ministers headed by finance minister Arun Jaitley.

National carrier Air India has warned its former employees of severe consequences such as withdrawal of post-retirement benefits if they speak out against the airline on social media. The Cabinet has given an in-principle approval for the disinvestment of debt-laden Air India (AI). Its employees, including those retired, are staring at an uncertain future. As many as seven unions have written to the government threatening mass protests if the airline is privatised.

NEW DELHI: Air India's subsidiary Alliance Air today announced the launch of new flights connecting Lucknow with the capitals of Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

The move is aimed at developing Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, as a regional hub of Alliance Air, an airline official said.

New Delhi: Government think tank NITI Aayog has recommended that the privatization of Air India should be done only after unbundling the airline and its real estate assets.

“There are some things that NITI Aayog has suggested and NITI is just a recommending body. Essentially, what it has said is that you delink all the property and sell it off. You have domestic and international operations. It has said that you just sell off these three independently,” said a senior government official requesting anonymity.

The Tata group is believed to have held preliminary discussions with senior government officials for participating in the privatisation process of the beleaguered airline.

According to sources familiar with the developments, the Tata group is open to purchasing a stake in Air India, which JRD Tata launched in 1932. If the talks fructify, the national carrier's history may come full circle.

The government has asked Air India and Jet Airways to operate additional temporary flights to Doha to meet the massive demand ahead of Eid, due to a ban on Qatar carriers by some middle-eastern nations. Jet Airways will operate a 168-seater aircraft on June 22 and June 23 between Mumbai and Doha. Air India subsidiary Air India Express will be flying its 186-seater Boeing 737 on Thiruvananthapuram-Doha and Cochin- Doha routes from June 25 to July 8, a senior official of the ministry of civil aviation said.

Air India, which is proposed to be put on the block, is auctioning residential properties in tony Mumbai neighbourhoods.

The electronic auction starts at 2 pm on Tuesday where one can bid for any or all of 14 flats in an Air India-owned residential building at Pali Hill, Bandra West, sources in the auctioneer, Kolkata-based state-owned MSTC Ltd, said.

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