The civil aviation ministry is making efforts to secure about Rs 2,400 crore for Air India through supplementary budgetary allocations and recovery of dues worth Rs 600 crore, related to use of its planes for VVIP travel. Of the total, about Rs 1,800 crore is being sought to meet the funding shortfall faced by the cash-strapped government carrier.

Efforts are being made to secure funds for Air India as the supplementary demands of ministries would be considered during the coming monsoon session of Parliament beginning July 21.

Air India and Air India Express, its budget carrier have begun restricting the hand baggage weight for passengers coming from Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi as many of the passengers break prescribed weight norms with their duty-free shopping, reports an English daily.

Free allowance for hand bagage are strictly limited to 8 kg for Air India and 7 kg for Air India Express, inclusive of duty-free items. However many a times passengers carry at least double the free allowance weight without being noticed. Baggage with weight over 7-8 kg will be charged a fee of 60 Dirhams (Rs 1,035) per excess kilo and taken from the passenger at the boarding gate.

Mumbai: Insurance companies are getting ready to bid aggressively for Air India’s $9 billion cover, coming up for renewal on 1 October.

State-run Air India, which floated a global tender for the policy to cover its 126 aircraft, expects to buy the policy at a reasonable discount, given the rise in the number of underwriters and its safety record, said two Air India executives.

NEW DELHI: Air India is raising up to $350 million to meet its working capital requirement through the external commercial borrowing (ECB) route.

In 2012, cash-strapped Indian carriers were allowed to raise up to $1 billion through ECB route for working capital requirements. "A big private airline has availed of $300 million and another has taken $50 million this way. The balance that remains is $650 million. AI is going to raise $300-350 million for meeting its working capital requirement for spare parts," said a senior official.

NEW DELHI: National passenger carrier on Saturday denied reports of a lizard being found in the food tray of a passenger on board its New Delhi-London flight. The airline has termed it a "hoax" to tarnish its image.

"This incident never happened. As there is no record of it, no complained that was filed either in London, New Delhi or on-board the flight. No cabin crew or even the other passengers on the flight are even aware of such an incident and no one has come forward to complaint even now," a senior Air India official in New Delhi told IANS.

A city-bound Air India flight was grounded at Mumbai airport today by the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) after it found that the crucial engineering documents relating to the plane were not updated.

This forced Air India to replace the aircraft, leading to a delayed departure of the city-bound flight from Mumbai via Aurangabad, sources said.

NEW DELHI: A cabin crew member of an Air India flight was detained by the Jeddah Airport authorities on charges of smuggling out gold.

The detained cabin crew was to board the flight bound for Kochi, along with 11 other crew members, sources said here tonight.

Government carrier Air India said it will not buy five Boeing 787-9 aircraft anymore. The decision to stick to the original model of inducting Boeing Dreamliner (787-8) aircraft was taken at a board meeting held recently. The 787-9 variant has a longer flying range and 40 more seats over the 787-8.

Air India, which has 20 Dreamliners, had signed a deal in 2005 to acquire 68 Boeings, including 27 787s. At present, it uses both narrow-body Airbus A320 and wide-body Boeing 747-400s, 777s and 787-8 on international routes.

The ministry of finance has not accepted a proposal by Air India to treat Rs 4,300 crore of the government’s equity infusion into the airline as a grant or income so as to prop up the bottom line of the carrier. “The finance ministry hasn’t favourably considered the request from Air India,” a senior Air India official told FE.

FE had earlier reported that the Rs 4,300 crore equity received by Air India, as part of the government’s infusion in accordance to the Turn Around Plan (TAP), will be used to fund the interest cost. Therefore, Air India executives want to treat this equity infusion as an income in the airline’s balancesheet.

NEW DELHI: Cracking the whip on errant employees to improve on time performance (OTP), Air India (AI) has suspended 17 air hostesses for allegedly delaying flights.

The airline has started monitoring when each of its crew reports to airports to operate flights. "These 17 cabin crew members were found to have delayed flights more than three times and they have been suspended," said an AI official.

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