Tag Archives: Air India

Air India has issued an advisory saying that passengers arriving from International destinations and connecting to a domestic destination are requested to recheck-in their bags at first port of entry. This is as per the regulatory requirement regardless of through check-in done till final destination.

Air India recently started permitting Indian travel agents to issue tickets on their Canada route. Ajay Prakash, President, TAFI said “It was an unfair decision earlier and I think they have finally realised that agents are an intergral part of the airline booking process and I’m glad that Air India has finally woken up to this. Let’s hope that Air India will continue to be proactive and will keep the agents’ fraternity involved and engaged as they go forward embarking on trying to revive Air India.”

N Chandrasekaran, the Chairman of Tata Sons, has been officially appointed as the Chairman of Air India. The national airline was recently acquired by Tata group from the government. The appointment was cleared at a board meeting held by Air India. Alice GeeVarghese Vaidyan, former CMD of General Insurance Corporation, will also be inducted as an independent director on board

In a shocking discrimination against IATA agents based in India, Air India has restricted sale of tickets from India to Canada to its city offices and web platform. IATA agents based here cannot issue India-Canada tickets, while travel agents worldwide, including the OTA’s having offices outside India, can access and sell AI inventory to Canada. Lodging a protest with Air India in this regard, AI has been practicing this since the onset of the pandemic. Abbas Moiz, general secretary, TAFI, said it is disappointing to see this discrimination by the new management, the TATA Group, too.

Tata Sons have announced that Ilker Ayci has been appointed the CEO & MD of Air India. The Air India board met this afternoon to consider the candidature of Ilker Ayci and N Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, was a special invitee to the meeting. The board approved the appointment after due deliberations. Before taking up this role, Ilker Ayci, was the Chairman of the Turkish Airlines and he was on the board of the company prior to that. Ayci will assume his responsibilities on or before 1st April 2022.

Air India’s divestment process is finally successful with TATA Sons’ SPV – Talace Pvt Ltd, winning the bid of the national carrier for Rs 18000 crore. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs  (CCEA) – empowered Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism (AISAM) comprising of Amit Shah Union Minister for Home Affairs and Cooperation; Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs; Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry and Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Civil Aviation Minister, approved the highest price bid of M/s Talace Pvt Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of M/s Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd for sale of 100% equity shareholding of Government of India in Air India along with equity shareholding of Air India in AIXL and AISATS. The winning bid is for Rs 18,000 crore as Enterprise Value (EV) consideration for AI (100% shares of AI along with AI’s shareholding in AIXL and AISATS).  The transaction does not include non-core assets including land and building, valued at Rs 14,718 crore, which are to be transferred to GoI’s Air India Asset Holding Limited (AIAHL). The process for disinvestment of Air India and its subsidiaries commenced in June 2017 with the ‘in-principle’ approval of CCEA. The first round did not elicit any Expression of Interest. The process re-commenced on 27 January 2020 with issue of Preliminary Information Memorandum (PIM) and request for Expressions of Interest (EOI). The original construct as per the January 2020 PIM envisaged (i) pre-determined, fixed amount of debt to be retained in AI (with balance to be transferred to Air India Asset Holding Limited (AIAHL) and (ii) the sum of certain identified current and non-current liabilities (other than debt) to be retained in AI and …

Air India will be opening Automated Refund through GDS effective 1st Oct 2021, revealed the national carrier in a recent circular shared with the travel trade. “However, there is an out-flow limit been set –the total per-week refund for your agency is limited to average one day sale of the previous week. Refund of one day sale from weekly Sale/remittance is allowed,” mentioned the official communication.

In a Twitter post, Air India has informed that the passengers travelling to the UAE from India are requested to report at the airport at least 6 hours prior to the departure. As per the entry requirement of the UAE, a rapid PCR test will be conducted for every passenger at the respective Indian departure airport. The test counters will start 4 hours before the departure time and would close 2 hours prior to departure.

Indian flag carrier Air India has launched non-stop flights from Delhi to Kathmandu that will be operated thrice a week, every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. The flight will depart from Delhi at 12:55 pm and arrive in Kathmandu at 2:35 pm. Air travellers entering Nepal are required to submit a COVID-19 negative report of swab taken within 72 hours of boarding and unless exempted, a proof of hotel booking for 10 days of hotel quarantine or confirmation of home quarantine.

CAPA Advisory, in its Airline Outlook FY2022, has said that there will be strategic consolidation in the Indian airline sector once the COVID umbrella has lifted. If there is no consolidation (although such a scenario appears unlikely) and if the privatisation of Air India does not proceed, then the Indian aviation sector may emerge from COVID with more airlines than it went in with.