India's Independence Day is just around the corner. And it's the time when retailers, e-commerce websites and airline companies announce hefty holiday discounts to cash in on the festive mood.

With I-Day only six days away, in the aviation sector, so far SpiceJet and Air India have announced discounted fares.

Government-run Air India on Wednesday rejected the charge that it was driving air fares down by offering cheaper ticket prices for the last minute travel against the industry's practise of increasing them manifold.

"We are not driving down air fares. We are only filling empty seats by lowering last minute air fares to the level of AC-II class ticket prices of Rajdhani trains," Air India Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.

To revive the khadi industry, Indian Railways and Air India are being encouraged to use products made up of the fabrics in trains and aeroplanes even as the KVIC’s sales grew 24 per cent in 2015-16, Parliament was today informed.

“Yes Sir. Indian Railways and Air India are being encouraged to use khadi fabrics in order to promote Khadi industries,” Minister of State in the MSME Ministry Giriraj Singh said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha to a query on whether the government is taking any steps to promote khadi in these two entities.

HYDERABAD: Air India may recruit about 500 pilots and over 1,500 cabin crew in next two to three years to meet the requirement as the fleet size is expected to increase considerably, a senior official has said.

"We are planning to have 700 more pilots in the next two to three years keeping in view the fleet expansion. From last August till now, we have already recruited 250 pilots. So about 500 more pilots we are going to recruit.

National carrier Air India has announced that it will be providing unbeatable metros fare to domestic passengers willing to return the same day from Monday.

In aviation industry there is huge fare war and Air India wants to beat all airlines and attract passengers through lowest fares.

The non-availability of slots at city's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) may prompt Air India to use Pune as its base to ramp up the regional connectivity in Maharashtra, linking regions like Nanded, Amravati, Nashik and Shirdi.

As part of its plan to develop civil aviation infrastructure in the state, the government has been holding meetings with the scheduled and unscheduled airlines, inviting them to enhance regional connectivity.

MUMBAI: Air India will launch a new Ahmedabad-Newark via London tri-weekly flight from August 15, an official said here on Thursday.

The service AI-171 will be operated with a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at 5.30 a.m. all Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and reach London at 10.15 a.m.

Air India has approached the government asking it to guarantee non-convertible debentures (NCD) worth `10,500 crore that it wants to issue against long-terms debt on its books. Converting loans into NCDs would bring down the interest rate by about 2%, senior executives at the airline explained. The country’s national carrier also plans to use the proceeds from a sale and lease back of wide-bodied aircraft to retire Rs ,500 crore or about a fifth of its short-term debt.

Aiming to attract more fliers and achieve higher seat occupancy in its flights on trunk routes, Air India has decided to lower its last minute ticket fares to the level of 2-tier AC of Rajdhani trains.

As part of the pricing strategy, Air India will drop fares on four key routes--Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Chennai, Delhi-Kolkata and Delhi-Bengaluru--four hours before the departure of flights to these destinations.

With an aim to connect more global destinations, leading state-run airline Air India will launch Ahmedabad-London-Newark flight from August 15 and Delhi-Madrid in December, and also plans to expand its fleet size in next four years, a top official said today.

“We will be launching the Ahmedabad-London-Newark flight from August 15 and Delhi-Madrid from December as part of our growth plan,” Air India Chairman and Managing Director, Ashwini Lohani, told reporters here.

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