NEW DELHI: The Maharaja does not want its crew to get naughty on duty. Air India's crew management system (CMS), which pairs pilots and cabin crew for flights and prepares rosters, routinely gets requests from crew to be paired with specific members of their choice.

Keen to avoid a scandal since some married crew members also make requests, the airline has now banned CMS from accepting such requests and warned of action against crew members who do so.

New Delhi: Air India Ltd’s chairman and managing director Ashwani Lohani has hit out at the previous government, saying it left the state-owned airline in a mess led by a botched merger and billions of dollars in aircraft debt.

Air India, the international arm, and Indian Airlines which flew mostly domestic routes were merged by the United Progressive Alliance government in 2007 under a single banner, Air India Ltd.

Air India made Rs 1 crore profit a day under Y C Deveshwar's chairpersonship in fiscal 1993. Deveshwar, who is stepping down as executive chairperson of ITC from next February, held the post of Air India chairperson during 1991-94. He was appointed by then civil aviation minister Madhavrao Scindia and succeeded Subhash Gupte who held officiating charge at that time.

Deveshwar's tenure in Air India was marked by improved profits and good management practices. He framed policies on succession planning and tried to bring focus on increasing corporate sales, say retired airline executives.

Air India’s “books are so bad” that nobody will buy it, even if the government wanted to sell off the national carrier, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said on Thursday.

Ruling out disinvestment in the carrier that has a debt of Rs 50,000 crore, Raju at the same time said the taxpayers’ money could not be committed “for eternity”.

National carrier Air India has barred pilots and cabin crew from operating flights where their immediate family members are also on duty.

There have been occasions when flight duties were performed by immediate family members on the same flight.

NEW DELHI: Close on the heels of the budget carriers rolling out low fares, Government-run Air India has also launched a limited period super sale scheme, offering customers all-inclusive ticket prices starting as low as Rs 1,499 on its domestic network.

The tickets under the 'super sale offer' can be booked between today and May 25 for a travel period between July and September 30, Air India said.

NEW DELHI: Switching into expansion mode, the Air India Group has decided to add 100 planes to its current fleet of 132 in the next four years. All airlines within the group — parent AI, AI Express and Alliance Air — will get more aircraft under the plan. This time the airline will opt for leasing, unlike the 111-aircraft order of UPA-I when planes were bought.

"By March 31, 2020, AI group will have 232 planes. While nine aircraft (six Boeing 787s and three B-777) are from the previous order (of 111 planes), the rest will be new orders for leasing planes. We are going to grow aggressively and fight for leadership across segments," AI chairman Ashwani Lohani told TOI.

Loss-making Air India Ltd is advancing its targets to turn profitable as it hopes cheaper fuel, an expanded fleet and greater efficiencies will help turn around the airline, two officials familiar with the development said. The state-run national flag carrier plans to induct 100 leased planes in the next four years, they said.

Merchant banker SBI Capital Markets Ltd (SBI Cap), in consultations with ministry of civil aviation, has revised Air India’s turnaround plan (TAP) and financial restructuring plan (FRP).

A day after Air India pilots threatened to go on strike over pending payments, the state-owned airline today paid the flying allowance and international layover subsistence allowance dues. With the outstanding payments being released by the management, the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) decided not to resort to any industrial action as planned from May 10.

NEW DELHI: Air India has hit pay dirt with its move to link Delhi and San Francisco (SFO) with a non-stop flight, making it the only airline that flies direct on this route.

The tri-weekly connection, which was launched last December, now commands a hefty premium over the one-stop flights offered by airlines from the Gulf, Europe, America and Southeast Asia. The reason: Flyers save so much time on this connection — the journey to Silicon Valley takes just 17 hours while the return is an hour less — that they don't mind shelling out a little extra.

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