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Indian aviation discussion

As they say in Canada when it goes below -10C.... its cold! no point saying -12 or -30

Same applies to airlines. They are either good or bad.
 
PIA is not even on the list. With the amount of bad press it gets I was expecting it to be number 1 on the worst list. Does Air India treat people badly or what?
 
Saeed said:
PIA is not even on the list. With the amount of bad press it gets I was expecting it to be number 1 on the worst list. Does Air India treat people badly or what?
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Because the amount of flights PIA has compared to all those airlines is nothing and very low.
 
Saeed said:
PIA is not even on the list. With the amount of bad press it gets I was expecting it to be number 1 on the worst list. Does Air India treat people badly or what?
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I only traveled once in the last 5 years and it was a fantastic airplane. Problem is the service. Air Hostess are too old and do not show any eagerness to help you.

The best Indian domestic Airline I have traveled so far is King Fisher Airlines. The rest are okayish.
 
PIA prolly didnt make the list to be considered as it may not be considered an airline :))

but generally desis SUCK at customer service regardless of industry and in the airline industry it plays a huge part
 
Slog said:
PIA prolly didnt make the list to be considered as it may not be considered an airline :))

but generally desis SUCK at customer service regardless of industry and in the airline industry it plays a huge part
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Exactly the same joke that crossed my mind! :)) We'll have to check world bus system rankings to find PIA
 
I'm sure PIA and Air Canada are not that far away down that list. At the airport counter and the boarding gate the Air Canada employees treat you like prisoners. They are rude and have no sense of customer service skill at all ZERO. They are mostly Sub continent and Eastern-European immigrants who I consider to be the worst kinds of immigrants. Their labour union protects them very well and hence they can treat you like trash. in 2014, I was heading to UK, the Air Canada pilot announced that there is no water on board, said no one can so use the bathroom and took off. What kind of Airline says "no water on board ?" Seriously ? The flight attendants looked like they didn't sleep for 48 hours, looked all old, pink and one of the female attendant was missing one of her fake eye lashes.
 
Thivagar said:
I'm sure PIA and Air Canada are not that far away down that list. At the airport counter and the boarding gate the Air Canada employees treat you like prisoners. They are rude and have no sense of customer service skill at all ZERO. They are mostly Sub continent and Eastern-European immigrants who I consider to be the worst kinds of immigrants. Their labour union protects them very well and hence they can treat you like trash. in 2014, I was heading to UK, the Air Canada pilot announced that there is no water on board, said no one can so use the bathroom and took off. What kind of Airline says "no water on board ?" Seriously ? The flight attendants looked like they didn't sleep for 48 hours, looked all old, pink and one of the female attendant was missing one of her fake eye lashes.
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You should be glad you don't have to go through this torture. Skip few seconds and you will know what I am talking about. I bet the guy never traveled with PIA again.
 
Am very disappointed, Pakistan should have taken the top spot on this one; there has been a conspiracy! :mv
 
shortbread said:
3rd place, that's worse than North Korea and most impoverished African nations!

That is some mean achievement, so ur better of choosing Air Lanka, PIA, Biman or Nepal Airlines, flying to South East Asia!

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/business/aviation/air-india-bags-third-spot-in-worlds-worst-airlines
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i think it is worth mentioning that the only metric used in the study was delayed flights, and flights through unscheduled routes.

this is not reflective of customer complaints, or baggage mishandling or most of all - customer satisfaction.

also it is worth noting, that flight / airline ratings are very poor predictor of utilization - for instance, US Airways, and some of the other budget airlines that are quite abysmal when it comes to quality, see a large volume of customers as the later only practices price discretion.

so yeah. pointless. i have flown KLM all my life till i did not because it was cheaper to fly Lufthansa.
 
Well deserved ,my parents also complained about how unhelpful staff inghe flight were, Air canada is equally worse haveseen complains for the same,no wonder both the airlines have a deal together.
 
That survey is the most nonsensical one I have seen so far.

Asiana is a pretty good airline, as is Icelandair. Korean Air and China Eastern aren't too bad either.

And while Air India isn't exactly stellar, they don't deserve to be among the world's worst either.

And the same survey ranks Iberia as one of the world's best :facepalm:

It is a joke of a survey and deserves no attention.
 
Air India has been pretty bad for a long long time so I am not surprised.

PIA has gone bad quickly in recent times but historically it used to be very good airline.
 
JaDed said:
Well deserved ,my parents also complained about how unhelpful staff inghe flight were, Air canada is equally worse haveseen complains for the same,no wonder both the airlines have a deal together.
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The security agents that scan your body and the bags are are Punjabi aunties and grandpas. I worked at the airport for for 2 months. Seemed like the contracted company found a way to hire cheap labours. Already every truck drivers hate Punjabis as they brought the pay down :facepalm:.
 
Thivagar said:
The security agents that scan your body and the bags are are Punjabi aunties and grandpas. I worked at the airport for for 2 months. Seemed like the contracted company found a way to hire cheap labours. Already every truck drivers hate Punjabis as they brought the pay down :facepalm:.
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Lol ,Air Canada or Air India? Both are horrible though ,apparently the people can book any flight and the naming will remain Air Canada(even if its Air India flight),my parents took British Airways this time esp for the massive luggage allowance they got.

Personally many domestic Indian flights are good if your luggage is within the limit,Jet is my personal fav,although everyone seems to be trying to rob these days.
 
I tell you once again, any survey that puts Iberia among the world's best is a joke. They are the most pathetic airline on God's green earth.

And while I am not a big fan of Air India, they are by no means the worst. They have in fact, dramatically improved in recent years. Fly them before commenting, please.

I won't comment about PIA as I have never flown with them.
 
JaDed said:
Lol ,Air Canada or Air India? Both are horrible though ,apparently the people can book any flight and the naming will remain Air Canada(even if its Air India flight),my parents took British Airways this time esp for the massive luggage allowance they got.

Personally many domestic Indian flights are good if your luggage is within the limit,Jet is my personal fav,although everyone seems to be trying to rob these days.
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The security guards are for the entire airport, they scan everyone entering the area past your check-in, not the counter lady that sits at the desk and gives you the boarding pass. There are also the main Airport Authority guys, those are the serious men, they are always white, have serious face and so on.

What you are talking about is code-sharing. Many airlines work together. Air India, Air Canada, Lufthansa, United Airlines are one pack consisting of 30 other airlines. British Airways, American Airlines, Qantas, Sri Lankan Airlines and 7-8 others work together as another pack. They are major ones as of now. I don't know exactly how benefiting they are but airlines love it and the passengers don't. Almost flew on Polish airways to London couple of years ago and made some last minute changes to Air Canada. When returning, the plane ran out of non-veg food half way through serving and my uncles started a fight with the flight attendants. While flying over the Atlantic Ocean, one of my uncle said "land the flight now !!!". That was an eventful trip.
 
Thivagar said:
The security guards are for the entire airport, they scan everyone entering the area past your check-in, not the counter lady that sits at the desk and gives you the boarding pass. There are also the main Airport Authority guys, those are the serious men, they are always white, have serious face and so on.

What you are talking about is code-sharing. Many airlines work together. Air India, Air Canada, Lufthansa, United Airlines are one pack consisting of 30 other airlines. British Airways, American Airlines, Qantas, Sri Lankan Airlines and 7-8 others work together as another pack. They are major ones as of now. I don't know exactly how benefiting they are but airlines love it and the passengers don't. Almost flew on Polish airways to London couple of years ago and made some last minute changes to Air Canada. When returning, the plane ran out of non-veg food half way through serving and my uncles started a fight with the flight attendants. While flying over the Atlantic Ocean, one of my uncle said "land the flight now !!!". That was an eventful trip.
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lmaoo :))) yeah code sharing exactly ,ok I do get the point of Punjabis in Canada and tbh Sikhs population in Punjab reduced from 59 to 58 man ,so yeah its going to be happening for a while,also Gujarathis and nowadays even people from TN are going there in many numbers.

Jan being a Tamil Heritage in Canada seems to be a big thing right now here among Tamilian urban population who are crazy angry over Jallikatu and pongal holiday stuff.

So yeah and if H1b bill gets passed occurs many Indians gonna land up there mate,be prepared for awful Airport service and probably terrible stores as well.
 
JaDed said:
,my parents took British Airways this time esp for the massive luggage allowance they got.

Personally many domestic Indian flights are good if your luggage is within the limit,Jet is my personal fav,although everyone seems to be trying to rob these days.
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BA and AI offer exactly the same luggage allowance in all classes, so I don't know what you are on about.

If you want to be able to carry lots of luggage, Emirates is the best bet.
 
gani999 said:
BA and AI offer exactly the same luggage allowance in all classes, so I don't know what you are on about.

If you want to be able to carry lots of luggage, Emirates is the best bet.
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BA differs man,esp when u r travelling from India to Canada,India to Europe is a diff limit,check it out.
 
gani999 said:
BA and AI offer exactly the same luggage allowance in all classes, so I don't know what you are on about.

If you want to be able to carry lots of luggage, Emirates is the best bet.
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BA allows only one bag of 23kg whereas AI, jet airways and Emirates allow two bags upto 23 kg each.
 
I travelled to and from from India to UK by AI and apart from delay of 40 minutes in one flight, my experience was pleasant. I don't think it deserves to be in the bottom three.
 
LastManstanding said:
I travelled to and from from India to UK by AI and apart from delay of 40 minutes in one flight, my experience was pleasant. I don't think it deserves to be in the bottom three.
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I flew with them a few years ago to Singapore. It was a pleasant flight. They even served alcohol :)
 
Had a mixed bag with Air India. Traveled to UK in 2009 from Toronto to London on Air India which was heading to Amritsar after that. The plane I departed was very outdated, seats smelled, had yellow stains near the window, flight attendants struggled to close the door for a while, half the entertainment system wasn't working and it was kinda small. there were only few non-desi passengers on plane who didn't look happy at all. When arriving, the plane was new, large, had good entertainment system, the food was great and the staffs were very caring as well.

Heard lot of good things about Jet Airways. is it true Jet Airways is actually owned by Daood Ibrahim ?
 
I have travelled shed loads, my family (and extended) has made a living through aviation since the 60s.

IMO PIA is the best. Don't care what others say. The Boeing 777-200 was first developed for PIA. Though I prefer the 747 myself. Though standards of crew have dropped, too many oldies. Plus the food is great!

Second in the list would be British Airways. (North American routes). Never had an issue with them.

I travelled once on Air India from NYC to LHR - Never again.
 
gani999 said:
BA and AI offer exactly the same luggage allowance in all classes, so I don't know what you are on about.

If you want to be able to carry lots of luggage, Emirates is the best bet.
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Nope. BA offers different allowances in all classes. Premium economy you can take extra, business class/first class more so since the there are fewer seats, there is more weight distribution per seat.
 
The government try again to sell AI.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BusinessInsight?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BusinessInsight</a> | Will the govt be lucky in its efforts to sell the cash-strapped Air India this time? Let's find out: <a href="https://t.co/yrSASA6nP4">https://t.co/yrSASA6nP4</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AirIndia?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AirIndia</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/airindiain?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AirIndiaIN</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Aviation?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Aviation</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Airlines?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Airlines</a> <a href="https://t.co/QXi30zFBBx">pic.twitter.com/QXi30zFBBx</a></p>— moneycontrol (@moneycontrolcom) <a href="https://twitter.com/moneycontrolcom/status/1339250183197007872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 16, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
India's national airline Air India has said a cyber-attack on its data servers affected about 4.5 million customers around the world.

The breach was first reported to the company in February. Details including passport and ticket information as well as credit-card data were compromised.

But Air India said security details for credit cards - CVV or CVC numbers - were not stored on the server targeted.

It is not immediately clear who was behind the attack.

The airline, a member of the Star Alliance network, said the breach involved all information registered between 26 August 2011 and 20 February 2021.

It asked all its customers to change the passwords to their accounts on its website.

Air India said no subsequent unauthorised activity had been detected.

Last year, British Airways was fined £20m ($26m) for a data breach which affected personal and credit card data of more than 400,000 customers in 2018.

Also last year, EasyJet admitted that email addresses and travel details of approximately nine million customers had been stolen in a cyber-attack.

BBC
 
Explained: What is the data breach that has hit Air India customers?

Air India data breach: The airline said the cyber-attack that compromised the data of millions of passengers from across the world involved personal data registered between August 26, 2011 and

An Air India flight at Mumbai International Airport. (File Photo)
National carrier Air India has notified its passengers of a data breach that occurred in February at the SITA passenger service system. The airline said the breach involved data of 45 lakh passengers being leaked.

What is SITA and how is Air India involved?
SITA is a Switzerland-based technology company specialising in air transport communications and information technology. The company was started by 11 member airlines and now has over 2,500 customers in more than 200 countries. SITA offers services such as passenger processing, reservation systems, etc.

Air India had entered into a deal with SITA in 2017 to upgrade its IT infrastructure to enable it to join Star Alliance.

At Air India, SITA also implemented an online booking engine, departure control system, check-in and automated boarding control, baggage reconciliation system and the frequent flyer programme.

What are the details of the Air India data breach?
In March, Air India had said that SITA had flagged a cyber-attack it was subjected to in the last week of February and said it led to the leak of personal data of some of the airline’s passengers.

In its notification to the affected passengers, the airline said that the cyber-attack that compromised the data of millions of passengers from across the world involved personal data registered between August 26, 2011 and February 20, 2021. It said the breached data included the passenger’s name, date of birth, contact information, passport information, ticket information, frequent flyer data and credit card information.

How did Air India respond to the incident?
Following the incident, Air India said it took a number of steps. These include securing the compromised servers, engaging external data security specialists, notifying the credit card issuers and reseting the passwords of Air India frequent flyer programmes. While Air India assured its passengers that there was no evidence of any “misuse” of the data, it said it was in talks with regulatory agencies in India and overseas and also advised the passengers to change their passwords.

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/air-india-sita-data-breach-explained-7325501/
 
Air India: At least 4.5 million people's data exposed following IT system hack

A company called SITA operated the breached system and revealed the hack in February, but not the scale or who was affected.

At least 4.5 million people had their personal data exposed after an IT system used by Air India was subjected to a "sophisticated cyber attack".

The airline was first notified of the breach in February, but only disclosed its involvement in the past week.

Details including names, passport information and payment details stretching back 10 years were accessed by the cybercriminals.

The compromised software was operated by SITA Passenger Service System according to Air India.

SITA put out a statement acknowledging the hack at the beginning of March, but did not specify how many people were affected or which airlines had fallen prey.

Other major carriers were also affected, including Star Alliance members Singapore Airlines, New Zealand Air and Lufthansa.


https://news.sky.com/story/air-india-at-least-45-million-peoples-data-exposed-following-it-system-hack-12314505
 
Having flown transatlantic on both Air India and Continental/United a few times, here is my comparison.

Advantage Continental/United: better seats, better response to enquiries prior to flight.

Advantage Air India: better food, more leg space, slightly better flight attendants.

Punctuality was about the same for both.

Air India as this point is not the major airlines in India, its market share has fallen below 20% and its fleet size is about half that of IndiGo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airlines_of_India

Competition from the private airlines has forced Air India to improve its service.
 
Napa said:
Having flown transatlantic on both Air India and Continental/United a few times, here is my comparison.

Advantage Continental/United: better seats, better response to enquiries prior to flight.

Advantage Air India: better food, more leg space, slightly better flight attendants.

Punctuality was about the same for both.

Air India as this point is not the major airlines in India, its market share has fallen below 20% and its fleet size is about half that of IndiGo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airlines_of_India

Competition from the private airlines has forced Air India to improve its service.
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People always say food is better on desi airlines but the only reason for that is that they serve desi food. For a non desi it’s rarely good.

United on international routes is really bad. Lost my bags once and on top of that they were arrogant. Took me whole two weeks to get them to compensate me and they finally located the bags and sent to me a month later. But shamelessly had the gall to ask me to return the $500 voucher they had given me as compensation.
 
Ahmad-GERMANFC said:
People always say food is better on desi airlines but the only reason for that is that they serve desi food. For a non desi it’s rarely good.

United on international routes is really bad. Lost my bags once and on top of that they were arrogant. Took me whole two weeks to get them to compensate me and they finally located the bags and sent to me a month later. But shamelessly had the gall to ask me to return the $500 voucher they had given me as compensation.
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Yes, desi food is way better than the bland gluten free food United tried to feed me :)

Yes, United service was quite poor in my experience too. Can’t blame airlines staff in the US for their bad attitude. Too many times the airlines in this country declare bankruptcy and rip off the pensions of the staff.
 
PIA, is the absolute worst.

Especially when you consider that recently, 1/3 of their pilots were found to be unlicensed.
 
PIA are just terrible. Just close the entire airline down forever.
 
New Delhi: In an unusual incident, an Air India flight which had taken off from Delhi airport early on Thursday returned back after the pilot reported presence of bat to Air Traffic Control (ATC).
Air India flight to Newark (EWR) left Delhi's IGI Airport at 2:20 am as scheduled. The bat was spotted after the plane was in the air for about 30 minutes. The flight captain decided to take the plane back to the original base (Delhi).

"AI-105 DEL-EWR returned back to base (Delhi) after departure due to this local standby emergency was declared. On arrival, it was learnt that a bat was seen inside the cabin by crew members. Wildlife staff were called to catch and remove the bat from cabin. The aircraft landed safely at around 3:55 am. Later flight was declared Aircraft on Grounded (AoG)," Air India officials told ANI.

DGCA officials said fumigation was carried out and bat carcass was retrieved from the aircraft.

"Air India B777-300ER aircraft VT-ALM operating Flight AI - 105 (Delhi- Newark) was involved in air-turn-back due to bat reported in the cabin by cabin crew after departure. Fuel was jettisoned and the aircraft landed safely at Delhi. After landing fumigation was carried out and a dead bat carcass was retrieved from seat 8DEF area," a senior DGCA official told ANI.

He said the bat was found dead inside the plane in the business class area.

The incident was reported to the airline's flight safety department for a detailed investigation.

Sources said the airline has asked the engineering team for a detailed report on the incident.

The Air India engineering team submitted its initial report to flight safety and stated that unwanted mammals came from third parties.
 
Tata wins bid to take over troubled state-run Air India for $2.4 billion

Government has agreed to sell Air India to the Tata for 180 billion rupees ($2.4b)
Tata Sons has been selected as the winning bidder to take over state-run carrier Air India, the government said on Friday, marking the end of years of struggle to privatise the financially troubled airline.

Tata Sons, the holding company for the autos-to-steel Tata conglomerate, bid 180 billion rupees ($2.40 billion) for the government's 100% stake in Air India, a finance ministry official told reporters.

The high-profile sale is a boost for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has embarked on a bold privatization plan to plug a widening budget deficit, validating his stand of the state staying away from most businesses. For Tata Sons, Air India adds a third airline brand to its stable, and gives it access to more than a hundred planes, thousands of trained pilots and crew, and lucrative landing and parking slots all around the world.


"Maharaja of the Skies"
The airline was founded in 1932 with the first flight piloted by Tata's eponymous chairman himself, flying mail and passengers in a single-propeller de Havilland Puss Moth from Karachi to Bombay.

Tata Air expanded around South Asia, offering a slice of the high life with Bollywood actresses in its adverts and at one point commissioning Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali to design its ashtrays.

The airline was nationalised by the Indian government in the 1950s and in the decades that followed the "Maharaja of the Skies" became synonymous with the hopes and ambitions of the newly independent country.

But in the 1990s Air India began to struggle with competition on domestic and international routes from Gulf carriers and no-frills airlines, and the firm started amassing huge losses and debts.

Successive Indian governments tried to privatise the company but its debts and New Delhi's insistence on retaining a stake put off would-be buyers.

Finally last year Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, seeking to sell of a raft of state assets, agreed to take bids for the entire company but to retain some of what the airline owes.

In addition the government is also selling a 50 per cent stake in Air India SATS Airport Services, which provides cargo and ground handling services.

Big bet
For Tata, which also owns Jaguar Land Rover as well as Tetley tea, buying back what is now India's biggest international airline - domestically IndiGo is number one - is part of ambitious plans.

Tata owns 51 per cent in Indian airline Vistara - Singapore Airlines holds the remaining 49 per cent - as well as an 84-per cent stake in AirAsia India, all of which Tata will now try to bring together.

Air India comes with a fleet of around 120 aircraft in addition to 4,400 domestic and 1,800 international landing and parking slots at domestic airports, and 900 slots at airports overseas.

Air India operates 50 per cent of all international flights from India.

As of August 31, the airline had amassed a total debt of 615.62 billion rupees. Tata will take on around a quarter of this, or 153 billion rupees, while the remainder will be transferred to a special-purpose vehicle.

Mark D Martin from Martin Consulting, an aviation consultancy, said that Tata should be able to swallow the additional debt.

"The transition from traditional to modern by the Tatas has been something of a case study and they've done a very good job. So, I don't think they'll have a problem with handling Air India," Martin told AFP.

"They've got deep pockets, they're well-positioned and they are very strategic in their approach. You won't find anyone better than the Tatas when it comes to turning around businesses."

Apart from Air India, the government also plans to raise billions of dollars through the privatisation of Bharat Petroleum and a major insurer.

In August, New Delhi said it was seeking to lease state-owned assets to the private sector to raise six trillion rupees to repair public finances battered by the pandemic and fund new infrastructure.

https://gulfnews.com/business/aviation/tata-wins-bid-to-take-over-troubled-state-run-air-india-for-24-billion-1.1633690561727
 
PakLFC said:
PIA are just terrible. Just close the entire airline down forever.
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Why? Just privatise it. All it needs is a professional management that has nothing to do with the government or the bureaucracy.
 
Now that AI has been privatized, looking for it to soon become third best:)
 
Their nariman point properties itself must be worth thousands of crores not to mention huge immovable assets in all airports
 
drubwrubnat said:
Their nariman point properties itself must be worth thousands of crores not to mention huge immovable assets in all airports
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I believe 18000 cr deal doesn't include non-core assets (land and buildings).
 
Kaptan said:
I believe 18000 cr deal doesn't include non-core assets (land and buildings).
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Oh ok! Good then.
Sad to see Air India go though, on perspective of national security but lets hope this lowers prices, and interesting to see how things change with jhunjhunwalas akasa project.
 
Government has agreed to sell Air India to the Tata for 180 billion rupees ($2.4b)
Tata Sons has been selected as the winning bidder to take over state-run carrier Air India, the government said on Friday, marking the end of years of struggle to privatise the financially troubled airline.
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Good for India that Air India is being privatized. Many in Pakistan are hoping for the same for PIA.
 
gani999 said:
Why? Just privatise it. All it needs is a professional management that has nothing to do with the government or the bureaucracy.
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This is what many in Pakistan want, however its not that easy. If it was that easy it would have been done long before. Problems include Opposition doing politics, unions start rioting, bad media coverage, a population that does not realize that State run airlines only work in dictatorships.
 
Airline industry is a terrible one- even with record travellers it always seems to struggle. Almost all airline companies in the world are loss making & exist only because they are too useful or too big to fail. I think Tata bought Air india for sentimental reasons, but probably this white elephant will drag their whole empire down.
 
Ahmad-GERMANFC said:
So now small towns with not enough traffic won’t have air connectivity?
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Many small towns in India are now served even by private airlines. Air services to select small towns with less traffic are subsidised by the government under the Udan Scheme.

And then there's also Alliance Air, a former subsidiary of Air India that flies exclusively to small airports, which is not being privatised.
 
dildilpak said:
Airline industry is a terrible one- even with record travellers it always seems to struggle. Almost all airline companies in the world are loss making & exist only because they are too useful or too big to fail. I think Tata bought Air india for sentimental reasons, but probably this white elephant will drag their whole empire down.
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The Tata empire consists of firms like TCS which has a market cap of $200 billion. A $2 billion acquisition won’t drag their empire down.

https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/TCS.NS?p=TCS.NS&.tsrc=fin-srch
 
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Ahmad-GERMANFC said:
So now small towns with not enough traffic won’t have air connectivity?
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As Gani said, AI is a minor player in the domestic market. Also, subsidizing travel to small towns has value of supporting the small towns but is also economically inefficient.
 
Good deal for all 3 parties, TATA Sons, GoI and Indian citizens....

TATA has got AI at a good price. For all it's liabilities, AI is still a prized aquisition for any corporate entity.

GoI has got rid of albatross tied around its neck for decades and also saved on AI's land hoardings which are much more precious.

As for us, it's a great thing that someone like TATAs will now be in AI cockpit instead of thoroughly incompetent civil aviation ministry. Only augurs well for Indian aviation scene.

TATAs have now got 1/4th stake of India's aviation sector via its airlines Vistara, AI and Air Asia. That's huge in current Indian aviation scene.

If only Jet could return to its status of India's premier airline.
 
Few days back, I was trying to book my parents ticket on Air India and wasn’t able to as website was repeatedly showing tickets unavailable for next 4 months :fp
But on Kayak and Expedia tickets for AI were available via 3rd party only. In todays time, AI wants customers to buy tickets from agents and 3rd party websites and take risk of losing money in the event of cancellation rather than allowing them to book directly on their website like any other airlines. Who comes up with such ridiculous business ideas. No wonder they are in huge debt.

I have never flown in AI and never will. Im happy that Tata will soon take over. Maybe someday, I’ll travel on new Tata airlines to India.
 
CanadianG00se said:
Few days back, I was trying to book my parents ticket on Air India and wasn’t able to as website was repeatedly showing tickets unavailable for next 4 months :fp
But on Kayak and Expedia tickets for AI were available via 3rd party only. In todays time, AI wants customers to buy tickets from agents and 3rd party websites and take risk of losing money in the event of cancellation rather than allowing them to book directly on their website like any other airlines. Who comes up with such ridiculous business ideas. No wonder they are in huge debt.

I have never flown in AI and never will. Im happy that Tata will soon take over. Maybe someday, I’ll travel on new Tata airlines to India.
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Lol , best decision ever, you escaped !
AI does inculcate this quality in someone to takes a principled stand, not to use any particular brand of service. :))
I made the mistake to take AI 2-3 times, due to majbooris.
Once, the air hostess was so short, she was unable to reach and close the top cabin.
So she disturbed all the aisle passengers by making them stand up and close the cabin as she was not able to reach. Its also a very expensive airline but by default has the last priority in any landing bay, guaranteed to delay your touchdown by atleast 15-20 min every time.
I have heard horror stories of food getting over, thefts, stranding people losing all their belongings, and 1 kilo excess baggage being charged.

So called repatriation flights which was supposedly a huge success, started off as good initiative but was also total mayhem and ripoff. Air India employees, really worst of the worst.
 
drubwrubnat said:
Lol , best decision ever, you escaped !
AI does inculcate this quality in someone to takes a principled stand, not to use any particular brand of service. :))
I made the mistake to take AI 2-3 times, due to majbooris.
Once, the air hostess was so short, she was unable to reach and close the top cabin.
So she disturbed all the aisle passengers by making them stand up and close the cabin as she was not able to reach. Its also a very expensive airline but by default has the last priority in any landing bay, guaranteed to delay your touchdown by atleast 15-20 min every time.
I have heard horror stories of food getting over, thefts, stranding people losing all their belongings, and 1 kilo excess baggage being charged.

So called repatriation flights which was supposedly a huge success, started off as good initiative but was also total mayhem and ripoff. Air India employees, really worst of the worst.
Click to expand...

My experience:

1) non-responsive customer service
2) good food
3) more leg space for economy tickets
 
Napa said:
My experience:

1) non-responsive customer service
2) good food
3) more leg space for economy tickets
Click to expand...

Yes leg space is definitely better, your right. Really good, twice as much as emirates. But no infotainment, food is better also agreed. But lately i stopped eating on flights altogether because i met a indian catering chef who told me never to eat flight food because it’s unhealthy & unhygienic.

But you know, its a dampener man, its not worth starting a trip with uncertainty & inefficiency. This feeling matters a lot to me.

See ryan air - it provides 0 facility, but they are always on time & to their credit - dirt cheap. I will write & give you the taxi fare to airport will be cheaper than the flight itself. Every time.

In Air india, if u suffer any baggage/reschedule issues, then you will feel it. Why unnecessary take chance, I always follow the policy, that the govt is not your friend. :)
 
gani999 said:
Why? Just privatise it. All it needs is a professional management that has nothing to do with the government or the bureaucracy.
Click to expand...

Why not just privatise the whole country or get China to run PIA now.
 
Napa said:
My experience:

1) non-responsive customer service
2) good food
3) more leg space for economy tickets
Click to expand...

From what I have heard from friends & family,
Food is indeed good, however they do not offer varieties like other airlines do such as Low-calorie or low-Sodium etc. On the flip side, they have very relaxed Alcohol drinks rule even for economy passengers(which explains why so many desis are drunk in long-haul flight)
Seats are in terrible conditions and charging port are not maintained which means most of them aren’t even working.
Overall, it’s a decent flight nothing special. I would rather fly Swiss Airlines any given day.

Three airlines to avoid
1) Air India
2) Air Canada
3) Emirates( my experience have been nothing sort of horrible with seats in terrible conditions, 2/3 economy bathroom out of order, and Okish meal).

Qatar and Swiss Airlines are much much better for economy class.
 
drubwrubnat said:
Lol , best decision ever, you escaped !
AI does inculcate this quality in someone to takes a principled stand, not to use any particular brand of service. :))
I made the mistake to take AI 2-3 times, due to majbooris.
Once, the air hostess was so short, she was unable to reach and close the top cabin.
So she disturbed all the aisle passengers by making them stand up and close the cabin as she was not able to reach. Its also a very expensive airline but by default has the last priority in any landing bay, guaranteed to delay your touchdown by atleast 15-20 min every time.
I have heard horror stories of food getting over, thefts, stranding people losing all their belongings, and 1 kilo excess baggage being charged.

So called repatriation flights which was supposedly a huge success, started off as good initiative but was also total mayhem and ripoff. Air India employees, really worst of the worst.
Click to expand...

I heard so many people said similar things when they travelled to India. Perhaps, it could be more to do with Indian govt officials at airport than Air India crew. Regarding charging for 1 kilo, that’s not bad, Air Canada would charge you even if you’re over just by 100gm. They are so terrible(monopoly in Canada is reason for poor customer service) that they do not care about anything. Two years ago, I was travelling back to Toronto from Mumbai via Zurich, and had requested low-sodium diet. They offered my a banana and a muffin for a late night dinner. I asked for alternative meal and they refused. That was last time I ever flew with them. I enjoyed when their shares were plummeting during Covid(now under huge debt) resulting them to take serious attention to customer’s need.

My experience with Swiss Air have always been good and always enjoy travelling with them. Whenever India allows tourist, I’m planning to travel to Mumbai via Zurich(perhaps even spend 2nights).
 
Last edited by a moderator:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-60150531

<b>Air India: Tata Group takes over loss-making national carrier</b>

India's national carrier, Air India, has been officially handed over to the Tata Group, which bought the debt-ridden airline in October last year.

The Tatas paid nearly $2.4bn (£1.7bn) after the government made the terms of the debt less onerous for the buyer.

The salt-to-steel conglomerate founded the airline in 1932 before it was taken over by the government in 1953.

The handover brings to an end a years-long attempt to sell Air India, which has racked up losses worth $9.5bn.

Tata Group chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday before the handover.

The existing board of directors for the airline has resigned, making way for a new board appointed by the Tata Group.

It's unclear when Air India will begin flying under the Tata banner.

The airline called the deal a "brand new chapter" in its history. "Two iconic names come together to embark on a voyage of excellence," it wrote on Twitter.

The Tata Group too celebrated the handover.

The sale is a boost to Mr Modi who had been keen to sell the government's entire interest in the airline.

It's also the biggest disinvestment in government-owned assets and companies since Mr Modi came to power in 2014.

The government has been unable to divest its stake in several loss-making public companies despite its ambitious targets.

Air India has many assets, including prized slots at London's Heathrow airport, a fleet of more than 130 planes and thousands of trained pilots and crew.

Tata Sons already runs two airlines in India — Vistars, a full service carrier in partnership with Singapore Airlines, and AirAsia India, a budget airline in partnership with Malaysia AirAsiaBhd.

Air India had been making losses since 2007 when it was merged with the state-owned domestic operator Indian Airlines.

It remained operational due to taxpayer-funded bailouts.

The government said running the airline was incurring losses of nearly $2.6m every day.

The airline's management cited rising aviation fuel prices and airport usage charges as well as competition from low-cost carriers, a weakening rupee and the interest burden for its poor financial performance.

Air India "suffered for its inconsistent service standards, low aircraft utilisation, dismal on-time performance, antiquated productivity norms, lack of revenue generation skills and unsatisfactory public perception", according to Jitender Bhargava, a former executive director of the airline.

Yet the airline has attracted buyers because it owns several valuable assets, including millions of dollars worth of prime real estate.

Apart from its fleet of over 130 aircraft, the new buyer will now have control of the airline's 4,400 domestic and 1,800 international landing and parking slots at domestic airports, as well as 900 slots at airports overseas.

More than two-thirds of its revenues come from its international operations.

According to the aviation ministry, its fixed assets - land, buildings, planes - in March last year were worth more than 450bn rupees ($6bn).

Air India also has more than 40,000 pieces of art and collectibles, including an ashtray designed and gifted by Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali in the 1960s.

In return the airline gave Dali a baby elephant, which was flown to Spain.

With India seeing passenger growth of around 20% per year and analysts saying the Indian market is vastly underserved, Air India is a good prospect for Tata Group, say experts.
 
Former Turkish Airlines CEO appointed as Air India Head

Ilker Ayci, the former CEO of Turkish Airways, who was primarily responsible for the evolution of the airline as a world class carrier, has been appointed by the Tatas to head Air India.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...-be-air-india-ceo-md/articleshow/89567182.cms

The man is supposed to be close to Erdogan as well, who hasn't been very appreciative of India on a number of touchy issues. Yet, all that didn't matter....

Only goes to show that geopolitics takes a back seat when it comes to international business, and only talent matters.

Well done Air India, and good luck, Mr Ayci.
 
Sorry, Mr Ayci is the former Chairman of Turkish Airlines, and not the CEO. Sorry for the error.
 
New Delhi: Just 27 minutes after take-off, an Air India flight headed for Bengaluru had to return to the Mumbai airport after one of its engines shut down mid-air on Thursday, prompting the Directorate General Civil Aviation (DGCA) to launch an investigation.
"The focus of the probe would be maintenance," an official told NDTV, requesting not to be named.

The Airbus A320neo aircraft has two engines and can fly safely with just one, officials said. The pilots, following protocol, decided to go for an emergency landing.

"The aircraft departed at 9:45 am and soon after take-off pilots received a warning in the cockpit indicating extremely high exhaust gas temperatures. The pilots sought an emergency landing," said an official.

According to him, by the time the plane landed in Mumbai, air traffic control had alerted ambulances and fire services.

The DGCA is now going through photographs of the engine that show serious damage, with quite a few compressor blades sheared off, sources said.

The aircraft has been grounded, said a source.

Passengers of Air India flight AI-639, which was scheduled to land in Bengaluru at 11 am, eventually arrived at the destination over three hours late at 2:40 pm onboard another aircraft.

"It was a normal technical snag and the plane returned without any turbulence," a senior Air India official told NDTV, adding that the DGCA inquiry into the matter is a routine exercise carried out by the regulatory authority.

NDTV
 
So Air India moving up the ranks, from 3rd worst, to 2nd worst. At least it’s an improvement.
 
finalfantasy7 said:
good get by air india
Click to expand...
Lol, how could sanghis allow anything good happening to India! They tried to tarnish image of this guy due to him being advisor of Erdogan and he quit the race due to these very reasons.
 
Technics 1210 said:
So Air India moving up the ranks, from 3rd worst, to 2nd worst. At least it’s an improvement.
Click to expand...

Just reading the headlines about some survey, that seems to have only happened in 2016. This thread and the impressions from just the headlines is a nice propaganda piece.
 
gani999 said:
Ilker Ayci, the former CEO of Turkish Airways, who was primarily responsible for the evolution of the airline as a world class carrier, has been appointed by the Tatas to head Air India.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...-be-air-india-ceo-md/articleshow/89567182.cms

The man is supposed to be close to Erdogan as well, who hasn't been very appreciative of India on a number of touchy issues. Yet, all that didn't matter....

Only goes to show that geopolitics takes a back seat when it comes to international business, and only talent matters.

Well done Air India, and good luck, Mr Ayci.
Click to expand...

This is clearly not the case when it comes to Pakistan.
 
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