IN an attempt to revive its fortune, cash-strapped Air India is focusing on increasing operating efficiency and simultaneously reducing working capital- and aircraft-related debt, according to the turnaround plan tabled in 2012. The national carrier is also trying to monetise its assets in India and abroad to increase revenues.

The total debt of Air India in FY15 stood at around Rs 50,000 crore, of which Rs 19,000 crore is related to aircraft. A senior official of the airline told FE that the airline has managed to repay 50% of the total airline-related debt.

Air India's first non-stop flight from New Delhi to San Francisco has landed here amid rousing welcome, becoming the first Indian airline to provide a direct air connection to the West Coast in the US.

The Air India flight AI 173, a B777-200LR aircraft, with 230 passengers on board landed here at 5:40 am on Wednesday with airport traffic control tower lit in Indian tricolor to welcome the flight to the city. The passengers applauded when the aircraft touched the ground.

NEW DELHI: In an unprecedented move to protect its pilots from being poached by other airlines, Air India is planning to make its new entrants sign a bond of up to Rs 1 crore.

Pilots joining the airline will have to pay this amount if they quit before a certain period during which AI has not recovered the cost of training incurred on them.

Air India on Friday said it will start a new tri-weekly Hyderabad-San Francisco flight via New Delhi from next week.

The flight will travel non-stop from New Delhi to San Francisco and passengers headed to the US city will undergo all customs and immigration formalities at Hyderabad airport itself for their onward journey, the national carrier said in a statement.

WASHINGTON: US' San Francisco International Airport has announced a trivia contest on social media to mark the beginning of the first-ever non-stop flight from New Delhi to the popular tech city by Air India from December 2.

The contest, titled #NonstopAirIndia, invites participants to answer five trivia questions about Air India and their new service at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO).

Air India has mopped up Rs 7,000 crore by selling nine of its 21 Dreamliner planes to a Singaporean lessor, which it has taken back on lease from the company under an SLB arrangement.

A major chunk of these funds will go into repayment of the bridge loan availed earlier for purchasing these Boeing 787-800s, airline sources said.

NEW DELHI: The engineering wing of Air India has certified 60 Airbus planes from its fleet of 66 as operational, surpassing the national carrier's target and giving a boost to its effort to increase on-time performance.

At a meeting called by aviation secretary RN Choubey last month, Air India's chairman and managing director Ashwani Lohani had said the airline would soon be flying 58 of the 66 Airbus 320 aircraft it has in its fleet. AI was then flying only 54 of these planes.

Air India will report an operating profit in the current fiscal, primarily benefiting from low crude prices and improved operational efficiency, the government said today.

The loss-making national carrier, surviving on a Rs 30,000 crore bailout package, is implementing a turnaround plan.

Air India on Wednesday announced that it has slashed prices of tickets starting at Rs 1,777. According to the airline's statement, the 'Diwali Dhamaka' sale is the latest promotional offer by the airline.

“Under the Air India Diwali Dhamaka offer, which is available from November 3-7, flyers get to book and travel at low fares starting at Rs 1,777 (all inclusive) on its domestic network,” the airline said.

NEW DELHI: Air India has prepared a plan to add 25 aircraft, the stateowned carrier's first fleet expansion since an order for 111 aircraft placed in 2006, as it seeks to expand network to underserved regions.

"These aircraft will be used to strengthen our network to smaller cities, which will be connected through an Airbus 320 aircraft and supplemented by another flight with an ATR aircraft," said a senior Air India official, who did not want to be identified.

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