Air India and Carin Energy seek stay on New York court proceedings

Cairn Energy and Air India have jointly asked a New York federal court to stay further proceedings in the British firm's US lawsuit targeting the airline for enforcement of a USD 1.2-billion arbitral award.

The move follows the government enacting a law to scrap retrospective taxation in the country, which in effect will result in withdrawal of the INR 10,247 crore tax demand on Cairn, according to court documents reviewed by PTI.

The British company had won an international arbitration award against levy of such taxes and sought to take over Air India assets when the government refused to honour the award and pay it USD 1.2 billion-plus interest and penalty.

But, last month, the government enacted the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021, that scraps all such retrospective tax demands and has agreed to refund INR 7,900 crore it had seized from Cairn to enforce such demand.

Cairn has indicated that the refund, without interest and penalty, was acceptable to it - opening an avenue to settle the seven-year-old dispute.

Cairn and Air India in a joint request to US District Judge Paul Gardephe on September 13 stated that a stay on proceedings would give them "additional time to evaluate the effects and implications" of legislation that repealed the retroactive tax.

In return for the INR 7,900 crore, Cairn would drop lawsuits threatening court-ordered seizures of Indian government property abroad.

One of those suits was filed in May against state-owned Air India Ltd, which Cairn has said should be considered alter ego of the Indian government.

"The implementing regulations are in the rulemaking process and will take some time," the two said in the petition seeking extension of the October 21 deadline for the presentation of case papers and initial pretrial conference on October 28.

They requested the court to "stay any further proceedings in this matter through October 31, 2021, and reschedule the initial pretrial conference and, respectively, the deadline for the parties to submit their Joint Pretrial Letter and Proposed Case Management Plan, for new dates in November 2021."

"The Parties have conferred and agreed that the stay will facilitate the efficient resolution of the dispute, conserve the Court's and Parties' resources, and is not intended to obstruct or delay," they added.

Cairn had on May 14 brought a lawsuit in the New York district court to hold Air India liable as the alter ego of the Republic of India for the obligations the government owes under a foreign arbitral award. The firm separately filed a petition before the District Court for the District of Columbia to recognise and enforce the arbitration award against India on February 12, 2021.

Seeking to repair India's damaged reputation as an investment destination, the government last month enacted new legislation to drop INR 1.1 lakh crore in outstanding claims against multinationals such as telecom group Vodafone, a pharmaceuticals company Sanofi and brewer SABMiller, now owned by AB InBev, and Cairn.

About INR 8,100 crore collected from companies under the scrapped tax provision is to be refunded if the firms agreed to drop outstanding litigation, including claims for interest and penalties. Of this, INR 7,900 crore is due only to Cairn.

An international arbitration tribunal in December overturned a levy of INR 10,247 crore in taxes on a 2006 reorganisation of Cairn's India business before its listing. It also asked the Indian government to return the value of shares seized and sold, dividend confiscated and tax refund withheld. This totalled USD 1.2 billion-plus interest and penalty.

The government initially refused to honour the award, forcing Cairn to identify USD 70 billion of Indian assets from the US to Singapore to enforce the ruling, including taking flag carrier Air India Ltd to a US court in May. A French court in July paved the way for Cairn to seize real estate belonging to the Indian government in Paris.

All these litigations will be dropped once INR 7,900 crore is paid, Cairn CEO Simon Thomson had told PTI earlier this month.

There is a need to focus more on air connectivity between India and ASEAN nations to enhance tourism in unexplored areas of the region, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said on Tuesday, September 14.

"We need to focus on greater air connectivity to enhance tourism in unexplored areas of ASEAN countries. In addition to these we are also looking at an early review of the agreement which will help achieve the true trade potential between the two sides.We firmly believe that transformation is only possible through transition and if it is to be done then connectivity and communication are must."Sarbanada Sonowal, Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways

The Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways also highlighted the need to speed up the regional connectivity project with ASEAN countries to give a boost to the bilateral trade. He was speaking at Ficci's Future of India-ASEAN Connectivity partnership conference.

There is a need to focus more on air connectivity between India and ASEAN nations to enhance tourism in unexplored areas of the region, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. (Image Courtsey - DevDiscourse)

The review is expected to include issues such as customs procedure, change of data and further liberalisation of trade. The minister further said that out of the 10 ASEAN countries, only five -- Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand -- have direct flights with India and vice versa. The other five countries, including Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines have no direct flight. Indonesia and the Philippines are two prominent countries with which India has substantial business and tourism interest, he explained.

Establishing connectivity will enable people-to-people connectivity through cooperation in business and tourism. The minister noted that the flow of ASEAN passengers to India is much lower than that of Indian passengers to ASEAN countries or transit through ASEAN.

It would be impractical to restart scheduled international flights right now and gradually increasing the number of air bubble flights with various countries is the way forward, IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta said on Tuesday, September 14.

Scheduled international passenger services have been suspended in India since March 23, 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, special flights have been operating since July 2020 under bilateral "air bubble" arrangements between India and approximately 28 countries.

The CEO said he is "very encouraged" by India's new civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. The Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh was appointed Civil Aviation Minister on July 7, 2021.

"He (Scindia) is taking a leadership position in addressing the concerns of the overall industry. The partnership that is developing between the industry and the ministry is a very promising trend.There are, of course, health concerns, which I won't minimise in any way. Different countries are on different points of managing COVID-19. Then all these testing issues are sort of confusing the passengers.But I think this process of let's have more and more bubble flights and increasing it slowly is a good graduated way of opening up. We did it domestically also, right? We started from 33%, went to 50 and then further. So, a graduated approach is a good approach.We want more and more countries to open up (for air bubble flights). The fact that the UAE and Doha (Qatar) have opened up is good. Bangladesh just opened up, but only with a few flights.Why aren't those opening up? We are also talking to the Civil Aviation Ministry regularly on this and we are saying that please give us some more countries. We are fine with the graduated approach."Ronojoy Dutta, CEO, IndiGo

IndiGo is currently operating around 1,150 flights daily, of which 70-75 are international ones. The rest are domestic services.

Dutta said it is not up to India to unilaterally open up scheduled international flights and the other countries have to agree. He also said he doesn't think it is practical to open up and go for scheduled international services in one big bang.

When India resumed scheduled domestic flights on May 15, 2020, after a two-month lockdown, airlines were permitted to operate just 33% of their pre-COVID domestic services. This cap has been gradually increased and stands at 72.5% currently.

A few more countries need to be opened, for example, Saudi Arabia and Thailand, he stated. The CEO said he is quite encouraged by the demand for charter flights.

"These charter flights are to places that we would not have believed, such as Italy, Kazakhstan and the Philippines. We didn't fly to these places on a scheduled service basis. Domestically, we have these wedding charters.Now, there are some months when we have done 1,500 charter flights (passenger and cargo combined) per month. I think that was the peak that we have seen.We have got at least three new potential entrants. One is the new Air India, which I believe would be a formidable force. From what I read in the newspapers, it is most likely going to Tatas. They will have Air India, Vistara, AirAsia India — all in one — and they will be a formidable force in the market.Similarly, Akasa will be an intense competitor. There is a talk of a revival of Jet Airways too. So, we have a lot of competition."Ronojoy Dutta, CEO, IndiGo

Before the pandemic, we did not fly any charter flights. Dutta said the competitive landscape of the Indian aviation industry is clearly getting more intense.

Akasa is backed by ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and his former IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh on board. It aims to start operations by the summer of 2022.

Jet Airways will restart domestic operations by the first quarter of 2022 and short-haul international flights by the last quarter of the next year, Jalan Kalrock Consortium, the winning bidder for the grounded airline, stated on Monday.

"Our view is we can't worry much about what is this airline doing and what is that airline doing. We have to focus on what are we doing, which is that we want to continue to be one of the lowest cost airlines in the world.We have a lot of focus on cost reduction. We are more fuel-efficient than we ever were. Our employee cost has also decreased. That is painful but it has gone down a bit. And we are reducing cost in every function in which we can. So, getting the lowest cost is the number one requirement.Our customer service is world-class Would be impractical to restart scheduled international flights right now: IndiGo CEO whether it is on-time performance, customer complaint resolution ratio, etc.Our network is really geared to what we think is the new emerging trend of first-time flyers.These are our three lines of defence. These are the three things we are focusing on."Ronojoy Dutta, CEO, IndiGo

IndiGo is a low-cost carrier based in Gurgaon, India that commenced operations in Aug-2006. The carrier, which is owned by Rahul Bhatia’s InterGlobe Enterprises, operates an extensive domestic network and international services to South Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Gulf.

Air India is the flag carrier of India with its headquarters based at New Delhi,India.

Air India had its humble beginning as Tata Air services in 1932,founded by JRD Tata. An entrepreneur and an aviator, JRD Tata also happened to be the first holder of a commercial flying license in the country.

JRD Tata / Scroll.in

Air India's foremost logo

JRD Tata designed the first logo of the carrier which was in the form of a "centaur". Designed with the concept of "Sagittarius" zodiac sign in mind, the centaur was drawn circumscribing a circle, which was believed to represent the wheel of Konark. As any Sagittarian can relate, the centaur was drawn to project an idea that aimed for higher spiritual things and the quest to know the unknown. The emblem and the lettering below were set in red against a white backdrop.

Logopedia

2007

This year saw the merger of Air India with the short-haul carrier, Indian Airlines. All flights under the Indian (Airlines) brand and ‘IC’ flight code were terminated on 26 February 2011.

The merger introduced a new livery- a Flying Swan and the wheel of Konark,only this time the wheel was much smaller and placed inside the swan's wing.

With not much difference in the overall look,the letters appeared to have grown much heavier with less spacing between them.

Petrotter

2014

It was towards the end of summer of 2014 that Air India joined the "Star Alliance" group. A new logo was unveiled thereby, although it was only a minor update from the former one.

The lettering " A Star Alliance Member" now appeared under the former logo together with a circular emblem.

Tamil Brain

The Maharaja, Air India's mascot

Poplcon.life

We call him a Maharajah for want of a better description. But his blood isn't blue. He may look like royalty, but he isn't royalBobby Kooka, the man who conceived the Maharajah

What began as an attempt to design an inflight memo pad inadvertently gave birth to the poster face of Air India's sales and promotional messages to millions of travellers across the world.

The Maharaja came to life with the collaboration of Bobby Kooka,who was then the commercial director of Air India and Umesh Rao, an artist with J.Walter Thompson Ltd. Mumbai, 

The various potrayals of the Maharaja

The Maharaja has come a long way from having debuted in Air India in 1946 to the world figure he has become now. One of the most recognisable mascots, he could be anything from a lover boy in Paris,to a sumo wrestler in Tokyo, a red Indian, a monk...He's seen it all. With an innate talent to effortlessly flirt with the beauties around the world and quite easily get away with it. Why? He is the Maharaja afterall!

His unique antics and expressions have allowed Air India to promote its brand and services with an unparalleled sense of subtle humor and grace. Air India has won many international awards for humor and originality, thanks to the Maharaja.

Some lesser known facts about Air India

1. During its hayday, Air India was prominently known for its exceptional customer service. Being the perfectionist that he was, JRD Tata strived for excellence and this resulted in the airline setting high standards even for its competitors such as Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Cathay Pacific, and others.

2. The pampering and the inflight service was top notch so much that in the 1950s, people preferred Air India even over other airlines with better aircraft configurations. Air India was only operating the slower propellor-driven aircrafts at the time.

3. With the launch of the Boeing 707-42, Gauri Shankar, in 21st February 1960, Air India became the first Asian airline to introduce a jet aircraft in its fleet. On 11 June 1962, Air India became the world's first all-jet airline.

Wikimedia Commons

4. Air India introduced its "palace in the sky" on its first Boeing 747-200B in 1971.No other aircraft,at the time, brought into service such luxury. An epitome of luxury travel indeed.

Architectural Digest India

5. Air India holds the record for the biggest evacuation in history. During the Gulf war,Air India flew 488 flights between Amman and Mumbai over 59 days in a mission to repatriate 111,000 expats stranded in the Middle East.

6. In 2005, Air-India removed the hyphen from its name to gain a competitive advantage in computer reservation searches as the systems wouldn't recognize a "dash".

COVER: Times Now

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The Centre will concentrate on building air connectivity between India and countries that are part of the Commonwealth of Independent States as the world slowly comes out of the coronavirus pandemic, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Wednesday, September 15.

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.

“I think this is the right time for the relationship between the CIS countries and India to take off. I think India is standing ready to cooperate, invest and build. We look forward to growing our relationship, both on the ground as well as up in the air.In many ways, you are much closer to us than many of our countrymen. So there is no reason for us to not take advantage of that.As we slowly come out of this pandemic across the world, and I believe we are in that process, I am going to concentrate a lot upon building our air connectivity to CIS countries through our airlines and programmes such as UDAN, which takes people across countries and states at a very nominal cost.We will expand our freight corridors. Concentrating on cargo and air freight is extremely important as well.Not only because it saves cost and time, but also because it is a huge economic multiplier.”Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, Union Minister of Civil Aviation

Mr Scindia said at an event titled ‘Future of India-CIS Silk Route Partnerships’ organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) in New Delhi.

He also noted that the flying time between Delhi and most of the CIS countries is many times shorter than the flying time between Delhi to any State in India.

For example, the flying time between Delhi and Bishkek is close to about two hours and the flying time between Delhi and Dushanbe is approximately two-and-half hours, the Minister stated.

The Minister also said robust air connectivity is fundamental in today’s day and age.

The Aviation Minister added that India already has air service agreements with most of the CIS countries even during the pandemic period.

Scheduled international passenger services have been suspended in India since March 23, 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, special flights have been operating since July 2020 under bilateral “air bubble” arrangements between India and approximately 28 countries.

The Minister also said robust air connectivity is fundamental in today’s day and age.

Budget airline SpiceJet launched 38 new domestic and international non-stop flights on September 15, 2021, in a phased manner. Accordingly, the airline launched non-stop flights connecting Delhi with Male, the capital city of Maldives, for the first time on its network.

The first flight from Visakhapatnam to Mumbai was flagged off by the Union Minister of Civil Aviation Mr Jyotiraditya M. Scindia.

https://twitter.com/flyspicejet/status/1438127020542607366

Besides the airline also launched new flights between Udaipur and Chennai which will operate thrice-a-week. 

SpiceJet has also launched flights on the routes of Delhi-Surat-Delhi, Bengaluru-Varanasi-Bengaluru, Mumbai-Jaipur-Mumbai, Mumbai-Jharsuguda-Mumbai, Chennai-Pune-Chennai, Chennai-Jaipur-Chennai and Chennai-Varanasi-Chennai, the airline said in a statement on Wednesday, September 15. 

SpiceJet has also enhanced frequencies on Bengaluru-Delhi-Bengaluru, Mumbai-Kishangarh (Ajmer)-Mumbai, Bengaluru-Mangalore-Bengaluru, Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai, Chennai-Goa-Chennai, Ahmedabad-Goa-Ahmedabad, Goa-Delhi-Goa, Patna-Ahmedabad-Patna and Delhi-Patna-Delhi routes.

In addition, the airline will be deploying its Boeing 737 and Q400 aircraft on these routes.

As per the statement, SpiceJet will resume flights to and from Dubai connecting it with Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Kozhikode, Amritsar and Mangaluru.

“The launch of these new flights is a sign of steady revival not just for us, but for the entire aviation industry. SpiceJet will be connecting Visakhapatnam with Mumbai, Udaipur with Chennai and Delhi with Male for the first time on its network and we expect these routes to do very well. Our new flights will ensure better, easy and seamless connectivity catering especially to the huge demand during the upcoming festive season. SpiceJet will keep enhancing air connectivity by launching new flights that can support the gradual comeback of Indian aviation to pre-pandemic levels.”Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet

In addition, the airline will be deploying its Boeing 737 and Q400 aircraft on these routes.

“These flights will cater to the increased demand for travel and improve accessibility between metro and Tier 2 or 3 cities. The increased accessibility will also promote trade and commerce."Sanjay Kumar, Chief Strategy and Revenue Officer, IndiGo

SpiceJet is an Indian low-cost carrier based at Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi. SpiceJet is one of India's largest airlines, serving domestic destinations across India. The airline commenced international operations in Oct-2010 and now provides services to overseas destinations including cities in the Asia Pacific and the Middle East.