NEW DELHI: Air India on Wednesday suspended one of its senior commanders for refusing to operate an inaugural flight at the last minute. The airline had introduced a number of new flights in the current summer schedule that kicked in from this Sunday.

"One of the new routes was Bhopal-Mumbai that was to start on Monday evening. The aircraft for the first flight, an Airbus A-320, to fly on this route was to go from Delhi. But the senior commander who had to operate the aircraft (for the inaugural flight) refused at the last minute and disappeared from Delhi airport," said a senior AI official.

An Air India flight made emergency landing at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport here on Monday due to tyre burst, causing smoke in the undercarriage.

The Air India flight was coming from Hyderabad and it has been reported that all the 120 passengers on-board are safe.

The Calicut-Mumbai Air India flight will depart from here at 8.55 AM with effect from tomorrow, as per the revised scheduled announced by the airline

Currently the flight departs here at 7.45 AM.

Air India is in the process of evaluating several options to bring down the government's stake once it turns profitable. The national carrier expects to turn profitable in 2018-19, two years ahead of the original turnaround target of 2020-21 through better revenue generation and restructuring of the Rs 10,000-crore term loans with government guarantee backed non-convertible debentures.

One of the options being considered is conversion of debt into equity such that the government's stake comes down to 51 per cent. Aviation ministry officials said in every internal meeting of Air India, privatisation was discussed at length, though there is no clarity on how the airline plans to rope in private investors.

HYDERABAD: National carrier Air India plans to add 44 Airbus A320 Neo planes to its fleet in the next three years, 68% of which will be net additions to capacity for the first time in more than seven years. Air India will next week introduce financial bids for leasing 15 Airbus A320 Neo planes, said two people aware of the matter. "Three bidders have already responded to the request for proposals that the airline put out recently. It is aiming to get all 15 of the planes between January 2017 and March 2018. The management will consider who is fast with deliveries," said one of the persons cited above, insisting anonymity.

Air India on Wednesday signed an agreement for leasing 14 Airbus A320neo aircraft with ALAFCO, a Kuwait-based leasing company. The delivery of aircraft is likely to start from early next year. The agreement was signed on the inaugural day of India Aviation 2016, the country’s largest aviation conference and exhibition.

Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani and ALAFCO vice chairman and CEO Ahmad Al Zabin signed the agreement.

National carrier Air India (AI) on Tuesday announced its summer schedule in which the airline has expanded its operations in the domestic and international routes and will be effective from March 27. The summer schedule will offer daily return flights from Bengaluru – Trivandrum and Mumbai – Bhopal sector.

Frequency on the Delhi – Pune sector is also being enhanced with number of flights added to and from Pune.

With improvement in its financial health on the back of lower jet fuel prices and increased aircraft utilisation, Air India is planning to expand its operations, both in the international and domestic network.

A senior official of the airline told FE that a direct flight between Washington and New Delhi will start by July, while a new flight to London – Delhi and Ahmedabad is also on the verge of starting operations to utilise the fourth slot at the Heathrow airport.

When the turnaround plan (TAP) of the national carrier Air India was approved by the Union government in 2012, monetisation of its assets was a part of it. Four years later, the airline has managed to monetise a significant number of its assets owned in India and abroad.

According to a senior official of Air India, the national carrier earns revenue worth `85-100 crore from the Air India building situated at Nariman Point, Mumbai. As of now, four floors of the building have been given on rent to SBI and service tax department, seven floors to the income tax department and one floor to Tata Consultancy Services.

Air India plans to bring down its losses by 40 per cent to Rs 2,000 crore in FY17 from the projected Rs 3,529 crore in FY16 on the back of revenue growth and cost optimisation. The airline’s board, led by Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani, has finalised the budget estimates for FY17.

Passenger revenue for FY17 is projected to be around Rs 17,000 crore, up from the estimated Rs 15,500 crore in FY16, due to network expansion and improvement in load factor (capacity use). Air India also plans to add flights to Delhi-Washington and Ahmedabad-London-Newark routes.

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