New Delhi: The government’s appointments regulator has turned down a request by the civil aviation ministry, sent at the behest of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), to allow it to select the next chief of the state-owned Air India through a search committee, bypassing the usual process.

The Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) has told the aviation ministry it does not see any merit in constituting a search committee as the board, which makes appointments to top managerial posts in the public sector, has already started the process of choosing the Air India chairman and managing director (CMD).

Air India has cancelled two of its three non stop flights to the US, with blizzard hitting the country's eastern coast. A state of emergency has been declared in North East states of the US.

New York's JFK and La Guardia and Newark airport are impacted, with airlines cancelling hundreds of flights.

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) has permitted Air India to reinstall the logo on top of its building at Nariman Point.

A high-level meeting of the MCZMA presided over by its chairman and environment secretary Ajoy Mehta approved a record number of 35 proposals, including the re-installation of the Air India logo and proposed rerouting of the Mumbai-Manmad pipeline section passing through the Vashi creek, Ulhas river and its streams.

Air India is conducting large-scale hedging of jet fuel for the the first time, as the state-run carrier seeks to take advantage of lower crude oil prices, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Air India was hedging two million barrels of aviation turbine fuel annually at $75 per barrel, which should cover more than a fifth of its fuel requirements, the person said. The company did not expect oil prices to fall any further, the person said.

State-owned carrier Air India is to cuts its costs by 14 billion rupees ($227 million), or about 6% of its total outlays, in the next financial year after the government asked the loss-making airline to improve its finances.

Air India, which controls close to a fifth of India's domestic air travel market, has been losing money for years and has long been criticised for its high costs. In 2012, the government handed the company a $5.8 billion bailout package.

Air India kicked off a virulent fare war across the domestic network on Monday, cutting economy class fares up to half compared to Saturday’s rates, undercutting both low-cost and full-service carriers.

The move comes a few days after Vistara launched services in India, between three cities to begin with.

The government-owned, loss-making Air India is once again facing attrition as 33 pilots have left the airline this year.

Some of them deserted the national carrier and joined other airlines without even tendering their resignations, notwithstanding the strict rules on bond liabilities.

A threat of a bomb explosion or a possible suicide attack on an Air India flight from Mumbai sparked an alert here with authorities beefing up security at the international airport.

Airport Director A K C Nair said that they received information from Kolkata that there is a threat to the Air India flight on the Mumbai-Kochi sector on October 25 and Ahmedabad-Mumbai sector tonight.

NEW DELHI: A non-existent scam is proving to be the latest flashpoint between Air India management and its pilots.

The AI management Tuesday issued notice to the airline's pilots' union over "misrepresenting facts and spreading malicious" rumours. The Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA, union of erstwhile Indian Airlines' pilots) had alleged that six grounded-for-years Boeing 737 (freighter) were "being insured at $1 million each".

Mumbai: State-run Air India Ltd, which has a debt of Rs.40,000 crore, has struck a deal with German lender Deutsche Bank AG and the UK’s Investec Bank for selling and leasing back five Boeing B787 Dreamliner planes in a $600 million deal.

According to two Air India executives, who asked not to be identified, Deutsche Bank will buy four planes while Investec will buy one.

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