A decade after low-cost carriers led India's air travel boom, full-service airlines are gearing up for a battle for premium passengers that only the deep-pocketed are likely to win.

Flag carrier Air India, which has only offered premium travel, will face more competition from second-largest airline Jet Airways, which on Monday said it would ditch its budget unit and focus on the full-service market amid mounting losses.

Passengers on board an Air India flight that arrived here from New Delhi on Wednesday had a close shave when one of the plane's tyres burst while it was taxiing on the tarmac, an airport official said.

"The incident took place this evening when the Air India flight from Delhi was taxiing after having made a safe landing," said Jamil Khaliq, in-charge of the Allahabad airport.

Mumbai's towering billboards, which hawk everything from the latest Bollywood movies to soda, block out more than sunlight. They're also a physical hurdle preventing Air India Ltd. from reaching its potential on what should be one of its most lucrative routes.

The height of the hoardings near India's financial hub means the Boeing Co 777-300ER jets the carrier uses for non-stop flights to Newark, New Jersey, near New York City, must fly 51 fewer passengers, or 15 per cent below capacity, in order to clear these.

Air India is planning to tweak its daily service to Australia, to cut losses.

In August 2013, it had launched a daily service connecting Delhi with Sydney and Melbourne in a single trip. Now, the airline would operate separate flights to Sydney and Melbourne, with reduced frequency.

Air India plans to close its 64 city booking offices in the country by October 1. Saddled with rising losses, the government-owned airline is reviewing the viability of its offices in 46 foreign cities.

“The city office in Madurai has been closed. There is no need to maintain physical infrastructure for ticketing, cancellation and refund when most airlines are aggressively using the web. It has been decided to close all city booking offices by October 1,” said an Air India executive.

NEW DELHI: Air India has terminated the services of almost 30 pilots who were working on contract, including all expats hired for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, in the past six months. With each contract pilot getting almost Rs 10 lakh per month, cash-strapped AI hopes to save about Rs 4 crore from the move.

"We have terminated contract of 11 pilots of Boeing 777, two simulator instructors who used to get Rs 4,500 per hour, two pilots of Boeing 747 and about 15 expats hired for the Dreamliner," said a senior official.

The Supreme Court today decided to hear the cross-appeals filed by Air India Management and workers union against the order of the Bombay High Court which dealt with various contentious issues arising out of the Justice Dharmadhikari report on the merger of the erstwhile Indian Airlines and Air India.

A bench headed by Chief Justice R M Lodha sought their responses within six weeks and posted the matter for hearing after 10 weeks.

Indian carriers, Air India and Jet Airways, will avoid the airspace of war-torn eastern Ukraine following a directive issued to them by the DGCA in the wake of reported shooting down of a Malaysian airliner in which all 295 people on board were killed today.

The aviation regulator, Director General of Civil Aviation issued instructions to Air India and Jet Airways, the only two Indian carriers that fly to Europe and North America, to avoid Ukrainian airspace while flying to and from destinations in both the continents, official sources said here.

In a move that will help cut operating expenses, Air India has invited bids to sell three Boeing 777-200LR planes. Last October, the national carrier sold five planes of the same type to Etihad Airways for about $350 million. Etihad operates the planes on the Abu Dhabi-Los Angeles route.

State-owned Air India, which is focusing on its turnaround plan, has stopped flying on nine unprofitable routes in the last two years to cut down on its losses.

According to information submitted in Parliament recently, the airline was not able to meet even variable costs like fuel on such routes and losses on them since 2011 had accumulated to Rs 455 crore.

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