Air India awaits Boeing Dreamliner's takeoff

Boeing Co. has reported better-than-expected second-quarter results but failed to answer when will its troubled 787 Dreamliner, 27 of which have been ordered by Air India, fly for the first time.

Boeing has determined how to fix a 787 wing-body problem, discovered in late May, but it still doesn't know how long the modifications will take, according to Chairman and Chief Executive Jim McNerney cited by the Wall Street Journal.

Problems on the Dreamliner, which was Boeing's hottest-selling commercial aircraft ever, already have pushed the first deliveries of the plane back nearly two years and cost the company millions of dollars in penalties and concessions to customers.

During its earnings conference call, analysts pressed McNerney and Chief Financial Officer James Bell for additional details on the programme's timetable and the cost impact on the programme and the company at large, the Journal reported.

"The delays are obviously putting pressure on the programme's profitability," said Bell. So far, the company has indicated the programme has been profitable, though analysts are looking for signs that Boeing could take a charge in the coming quarters once it updates cost estimates, the leading US financial daily said.

The company left intact its projection for 2009 earnings to come in at $4.70 to $5 a share but said that could change based on an updated analysis of the 787's costs.

Many airlines have planned their business models around the 787, which promises fuel-efficiency and maintenance-cost savings. The lack of a firm delivery timetable has thrown off their ability to plan everything from future routes to when they retire aging aircraft.

For the second quarter, Boeing reported net income of $998 million, or $1.41 a share, up 17 percent from $852 million, or $1.16 a share, a year earlier.

That beat analysts' expectations of $1.21 a share. The prior-year results included 22 cents a share in charges. Revenue was up 1.1 percent to $17.15 billion. Revenue at the company's Integrated Defence Systems Unit rose 9 percent to $8.7 billion.

Air India top brass in for rejig: Praful Patel

The top brass of loss-making national carrier Air India is headed for a rejig, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has said, with the government proposing to hire "people with proven track record".

"You will see major changes in the next 30 days. There will be major changes in the Air India top management. We will bring in people with proven track record in business," Patel told a news channel.

"Some heads will roll."

Patel's comment comes within days of Air India chairman and managing director Arvind Jadhav warning employees to be prepared for harsh decisions necessary to deal with the financial crisis the carrier was facing.

Air India is in a financial mess having incurred a loss of Rs.4,000 crore last fiscal, forcing Patel to approach Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for a Rs.10,000-crore (about $2-billion) bailout package for the beleaguered carrier.

Air India salaries to be delayed next month

About 31,000 employees of flag carrier Air India will receive their June salaries only in mid-July as the national carrier attempts to overcome its losses, which were over Rs.4,000 crore (Rs.40 billion/$8.4 billion) during last fiscal, a top official said Sunday.

The July salaries could be delayed by over two weeks, said a senior civil aviation ministry official.

The move comes when Air India plans to seek Rs.5,000 crore in equity capital, Rs.7,000 crore as a five-year soft loan and a special grant of Rs.2,000 crore, the official added.

The airline's losses for last fiscal were about Rs.4,000 crore, while it had accumulated losses of Rs.2,226 crore in fiscal 2007-08.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Praful Patel had earlier said that the government was likely to soon approve the bailout package for Air India. But he also said that the package would not match Air India's expectations.

Air India to launch daily Ahmedabad-Frankfurt flight

Air India is set to launch a daily direct flight from here to Frankfurt from June 1, the airline said Saturday.

Flight AI-120 Ahmedabad-Frankfurt, a Boeing 777-200 aircraft with a passenger capacity of 291, will depart the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at 2.05 a.m. June 1 and will reach the German city at 6.50 a.m. (local time).

The daily return flight will leave Frankfurt at 11.10 a.m. (local time) and reach Ahmedabad at 10.25 p.m., an Air India official said.

Air India had recently opened an operational hub for west-bound flights in Frankfurt, he added.

Air India reduces airfare to Gulf by 15 percent

Stiff competition from rivals and changing market dynamics have forced Indian national carrier Air India to reduce fares by 15 percent on flights to Gulf destinations.
"Our fares for the economy and business classes will be lower than any other domestic or foreign airlines operating between India and the Gulf," an Air India spokesperson told IANS Friday.
Air traffic to West Asia constitutes nearly 40 percent of the Indian aviation industry's total international operations.
"We do not want to lose passengers. We have reduced fares on account of changing market dynamics and competition," the official said.
Air India till 2007 enjoyed monopoly in the lucrative India-Gulf operations, but lost its dominance after the government opened the sector to private airlines.
This, despite Air India seeking exclusivity over Gulf routes.
Last week, the government further opened the Dubai sector to Jet Airways.
Air India is likely to post a loss of more than Rs.20 billion this fiscal, airlines officials said.
Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan last week called for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention to reduce airfares to Gulf destinations.

Air India Express to increase seats on Kerala-Gulf flights

Air India Express will increase from Monday the number of seats by 2,220 per week on its flights to the Middle East from the three airports in Kerala.
The reason for this increase is the delinking of Thiruvananthapuram from Kochi and Kozhikode, said H.A. Munaf, chief of Air India operations here.

"On account of the delinking, passengers from Thiruvananthapuram can now reach their Middle-East destination at least two hours before as compared to the present schedule because it would be a non-stop flight from here," Munaf told reporters late Saturday.

As a result of the new arrangement, the total number of weekly flights from Kerala would go up from 64 to 76.

"The total seats on Air India Express flights from Thiruvananthapuram will go up from 1,530 seats weekly to 2,395 seats, Kozhikode will have an additional 900 seats, up from 5,705 and at Kochi there would be an increase of 455 seats," Munaf said.

Air India Express operates to Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Muscat, Doha and Bahrain from Kerala.

The airline will soon be launching flights to Dammam in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as well.

With this delinking, there is also expected to be a corresponding increase in seats on Kerala-Middle East flights of other international airlines too. But Air India Express is not afraid of competition.

"We are quite confident that we will be able to handle any sort of competition simply because our fares are one of the cheapest. Since the commencement of Air India operations nearly three years back, we are having a load factor of 90 percent," Munaf said.


Indo-Asian News Service

Company Profile: AirIndia

Air India (formerly Air-India, Hindi: एअर इंडिया) is the national flag carrier of India with a worldwide network of passenger and cargo services. It is the only state-owned airline in the country, having recently merged with Indian Airlines[1]. Its main bases are Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai and Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi with hubs at Chennai International Airport. The airline connects 146 international and domestic destinations around the world, including 12 gateways in India with Air India Express, which is a fully-owned subsidiary of Air India. Some destinations are through codeshare.
Air India had its beginning as Tata Airlines in 1932, a division of Tata Sons Ltd. (now Tata Group) by J. R. D. Tata. On October 15, 1932, the founder, J. R. D. Tata himself flew a single engined De Havilland Puss Moth registered VT-and carrying air mail (postal mail of Imperial Airways) from Karachi's Drigh Road Aerodrome to Bombay's Juhu Airstrip via Ahmedabad. The aircraft continued to Madras via Bellary piloted by Royal Air Force pilot Nevill Vincent.

Following the end of World War II, regular commercial service was restored in India and Tata Airlines became a public limited company on 29 July 1946 under the name Air India. After the Independence of India, 49% of the airline was acquired by the Government of India in 1948, with an option to purchase an additional 2%. In return, the airline was granted status to operate international services from India as the designated flag carrier under the name Air India International. On June 8, 1948 a Lockheed Constellation L-749A named Malabar Princess and registered VT-CQP took off from Bombay bound for London via Cairo and Geneva. This marked the airline's first longhaul international flight, soon followed by service in 1950 to Nairobi via Aden.

On 1 August 1953, the Government of India exercised its option to purchase a majority stake in the carrier and Air India International Limited was born as one of the fruits of the Air Corporations Act that nationalised the air transportation industry. At the same time all domestic services were transferred to Indian Airlines. In 1954, the airline took delivery of its first L-1049 Super Constellations and inaugurated services to Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Air India International entered the jet age in 1960 when its first Boeing 707, named Nandadevi and registered VT-DJJ, was delivered. Jet services to New York via London were inaugurated that same year in May 1960. On June 8, 1962 the airline's name was officially truncated to Air India. On June 11, 1962 Air India became the world's first all-jet airline.

In 1970, Air India moved its offices to downtown Bombay. The next year, the airline took delivery of its first Boeing 747-200 named Emperor Ashoka and registered VT-EBD. This coincided with the introduction of the 'Palace In The Sky' livery and branding. A distinctive feature of this livery is the paintwork around each aircraft window, in the cusped arch style of windows in Indian palaces.

In 1986 Air India took delivery of the Airbus A310. The airline is the largest operator of this type in passenger service. In 1988, Air India also took delivery of two Boeing 747-300s in mixed passenger-cargo configuration.

In 1989, to supplement its "Flying Palace" livery, Air India introduced a new "sun" [1] livery that was mostly white but had a golden sun on a red tail. Only applied to around a half of Air India's fleet, the new livery did not succeed, as the Indian flying public complained about the phasing out of the classic colours. The new livery was dropped after two years and the old scheme was returned. Since then, Air India has been hesitant to radically change the paint scheme, instead opting for minor updates and face lifts.

In 1993, Air India took delivery of the flagship of its fleet when the first Boeing 747-400 named Konark and registered VT-ESM made history by operating the first non-stop flight between New York and Delhi.

In 1994 the airline was registered as Air India Ltd. In 1996, the airline inaugurated service to its second US gateway at Chicago’s O'Hare International Airport. In 1999, the airline opened its dedicated Terminal 2-C at the newly renamed Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai.

The 21st century has seen Air India introduce new services to Shanghai in China, as well as two new US gateways at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and Los Angeles (LAX).

To expand its business AI started its low-cost subsidiary named Air India Express in May 2004. AIX has been operating exclusively on Gulf routes, but now expanded to Singapore as non-Gulf Route.

In March 2004, Air India started non-stop flights from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport to London, Heathrow, making it the third station from India (after Mumbai and Delhi). In December 2004, Air India leased three Boeing 777-222ER aircraft from United Airlines. With these three new B777s, Air India was able to introduce three new routes: Delhi-Frankfurt-Los Angeles, Delhi-Amritsar-Birmingham-Toronto, and Delhi-Dhaka-Kolkata-London.

Air India was also granted permission from the Government of India to merge with Indian Airlines. The name of the new airline remained Air India. The two airlines formally became one on July 15, 2007 upon receiving the new Boeing 777-200LR with the new livery of the merged airline. The new airline's headquarters will remain in Mumbai, and it now has a fleet of 130+. After the merger, the two airlines will apply for membership of Star Alliance with Lufthansa backing the application. [2] Alliance Air and Air India Express are also to merge as the new airline's low-cost arm.[3] Air India has also been changing its fleets interiors, with PTVs, new seats, new overhead compartments, and a new uniform for the Air India flight attendants. They have been designed by the French designer Pierre Cardin[4], and are a mix of Western and Indian fashions.

The Serbian media reported in January 2007 that Air India is considering a partnership with Jat Airways which may result in a new venture airline that would feed passengers onto Air India's flights, through Belgrade. Details are still sketchy but it appears that Air India hopes to use Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport as a hub for flights to North America (US and Canada) and possibly Europe. [2]

Consumer body plans to boycott Air India

A leading airline consumer body -- the All India Airport Users' Forum (AIAUF)-- is planning to boycott state-run Air India for providing what it describes as sub-standard services on flights between India and the Gulf countries.

"We are going to boycott Air India for providing substandard services in the Gulf sector, especially from Kerala, and initiate legal action against them," K.M. Basheer, the Sharjah-based AIAUF general secretary, told IANS.

He said that the carrier provided five-star treatment to passengers going to Britain and the US while charging comparatively lower fares but passengers on the Gulf sector were charged exorbitant fares while being subjected to indifferent treatment by the airline crew.

"Why is that so? We in the Gulf send the maximum amount of remittances to India while Indians living in the US or Britain make those countries their home. Yet fares to the Gulf sector are comparatively 50 to 60 percent higher than those to the US and London Heathrow," Basheer said Tuesday.

"Flights, especially from Kozhikode to the Gulf, are frequently delayed or cancelled putting passengers to great inconvenience," he added.

There are around 5.5 million expatriate Indians in the Gulf region.

Alleging that Air India was monopolising the Kozhikode airport, Basheer said: "Air India knows that the airport reaps immense profits, which helps it to overcome losses incurred in other airports. Hence, the airline authorities in India don't allow other airlines to operate from Kozhikode to the Gulf sector."

Stating that this was grossly unfair, he said: "Just look at Coimbatore airport, which is much smaller. Yet, they allow other airlines to operate on the Gulf sector."

He said that the AIAUF would soon launch legal action against the carrier.

"We are going to file legal cases and we are taking the help of some NGOs and legal bodies in Kerala in this regard," Basheer said.

He added that his organisation was soon going to launch a website where passengers could lodge complaints against Air India.

"Passengers can register their names on the website, and include the flight number, date, copy of the tickets and passport so that the cases can be filed," he said.

"If you ever face any problems while travelling by Air India, just let us know. We will take action against them on your behalf."

Indo-Asian News Service