Pakistan has closed a corridor in its airspace, which will result in an additional up to12 minutes of flying time for overseas flights, an Air India official said on Wednesday.

The flights will have to be diverted to other routes due to the closure, the official said.

Air India Express, a regional international arm of national carrier Air India, reported a 35.5% drop in net profit of Rs 169 crore for the fiscal ended March 31, 2019, as compared to Rs 262 crore during the previous year.

The low-cost carrier, which first started its operations in 2004, has been registering profits for four years since 2015-16, though its parent company Air India has been struggling to survive due to huge legacy and operational costs.

Air India is planning to bring all of its 17 aircraft, which have been grounded for a “prolonged” period, back into operation by October-end, its chief Ashwani Lohani has said.

These 17 aircraft have been grounded for time periods ranging from four months to one year due to lack of funds for their repair and maintenance.

Even as the process for disinvestment of national carrier Air India is already set in motion, the government has asked the airline management to start new flights only if it is extremely necessary after due diligence of commercial interest.

The airline has also been asked to put a freeze on large-scale appointments and promotions.

In its second attempt to sell Air India, the central government has put the divestment process on the fast track.

Sources close to the development said the expression of interest (EoI) for divestment of Air India may be out by October.

Air India today linked Indore with Dubai with a non-stop flight, fulfilling a long-standing desire for a direct flight to the Gulf from the travel fraternity and tourists.

From Indore, Air India is operating a 162-seater A320neo aircraft, which will fly 3 times a week directly to Dubai on every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.

New Delhi: An Air India pilot has been grounded for three months after he tested positive in a pre-flight breath analyser (BA) test here on Saturday.

The pilot wanted to fly as a passenger from Delhi to Bengaluru. Since the flight was full, he requested to fly in the cockpit as an additional crew member.

Air India has plans to sell 30 unutilised tracts of land in cities like Mumbai and Delhi to retire the debt transferred to special purpose vehicle Air India Asset Holding, civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri told Parliament on Thursday.

These land parcels include 1.7 lakh sq m and 14,326 sq m plots in Mumbai and New Delhi, respectively. Other cities where the national carrier holds unused land are Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai and Ahmedabad.

Ahead of the proposed sale of the loss-making Air India, an anxious ministry of civil aviation has called for an impact analysis of the closure of Jet Airways. Ernst & Young (EY), the advisors to the sale, which flopped the first time, has been tasked with assessing the chances of a success in the light of shutdown of Jet Airways.

The build-up to Air India privatisation has taken off in full swing with the Union Budget announcing it as the centrepiece of divestment this year. The government is targeting October as the deadline for announcing the deal.

Not leaving anything to chance after a failed attempt earlier, the government has shortlisted the potential bidders, with the Tata group on top for its interest in aviation.

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