Business

Apart from the plan to review airline’s operations, the Air India-specific Alternate Mechanism headed by Union Minister Arun Jaitley will review the situation of the carrier’s disinvestment, which has been put on hold for now.

Sinha, the minister of state for civil aviation, said the government is committed to the strategic disinvestment of Air India.

The statement rebutting all allegations comes after nearly a fortnight of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raiding at least six AirAsia India offices in India, including its Bengaluru headquarters.

After the call, Indigo officials immediately reported the matter to Bomb Threat Assessment Committee. The airlines will resume the operations once the authorities give the clearance.

Tatas hold a 51 per cent stake in AAI, with the other 49 per cent vested with Malaysian airline AirAsia Berhad.

According to the minutes of meeting held on May 30, the Committee while clearing the project said the proposed modernisation project will be carried out within the existing airport premises over an area of 1301.28 acres.

This facility, once fully operational, could help train over 3500 pilots annually, the company's statement said.

The government is considering listing of debt-laden Air India after the proposal for 76 per cent strategic stake sale failed to attract any bidders, a source said Wednesday.

There would not be over 160 queries after the Preliminary Interest Memorandum (PIM) if there were no buyers for the airline, sources said.

In September 2013, the Bell Helicopter model 212 departed from Juhu airport for Aurangabad with three passengers and two crew members on board and crashed about 37 minutes after taking off.

"Air India is inviting bids for short-term loans (STL) totalling to Rs 1,000-crore to meet its urgent working capital requirement," the bid document said.

Indonesia's ambassador to India Sidharto Reza Soryodipuro also said that there was zero maritime connectivity between India and Indonesia. Indian ships go either via Singapore, Malaysia or Sri Lanka.

Bookings under the sale scheme, in which fares have been lowered up to 75 per cent over normal fares across the network, are open for 24 hours, starting 0001 hours tonight for the travel between June 21 and September 27, Vistara said in a release.

Besides, fares vary from sector to sector depending on the route, flight and timings, it added. The Wadia group-promoted airline currently operates over 1,544 weekly flights to 23 destinations.

Airbus in April said it’ll scale back production of the A330 family as it transitions to the newer model in part due to lower than expected sales, with plans to hand over only 50 of the jets annually from next year, compared with 67 in 2017.

Despite such a scenario, the aviation industry's financial foundation has “grown stronger”, IATA's CEO said, projecting that the airlines would make nearly USD 40 billion this year as passenger demand is expected to grow 7 per cent and cargo by 4 per cent.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents about 280 carriers, said the airline industry is expected to post a $33.8 billion profit this year, 12 percent below a previous forecast of $38.4 billion.

On Sunday, an IndiGo flight en route to Ranchi from Delhi returned back shortly after taking off following an engine problem that led to the pilots conducting a controlled shut down of one of the engines.

Oil prices have risen around 50 percent compared to the levels seen last year and that is putting pressure on airline profits.