Air India issues tender to sell 3 B777-200LR aircraft

Jinen Gada

28 Jul 2022

Tata Group-owned Air India issued a tender to sell its three B777-200LR wide-bodied aircraft, which were manufactured in 2009.

The tender said that the bids for three wide-bodied aircraft, which are powered by GE90-110 engines, will have to be submitted by August 16. Wide-bodied aircraft have bigger fuel tanks that allow them to travel on long-haul international routes like between India and the US.

In October 2021, Tatas emerged as the winning bidder for loss-making Air India. 

Previously Air India operated 8 wide-body aircraft Boeing 777-200LR, but then it sold 5 of its aircraft to Etihad Airways. After this deal, Air India only operates 3 Boeing 777-200LR.

The 777 family of airplanes is popular with passengers and airlines because of its fuel-efficient twin-engine design, high reliability, low operating costs and comfortable and spacious interior. It is the market leader in the 300- to 400-seat segment, capturing more than 65% of that market.

Seat Map and Seating Chart Boeing 777 200LR Air India.

Air India Boeing 777-200LR seats 238 passengers in a three-class configuration and is primarily used on long-haul routes. There are 8 flat bed seats in First Class, 35 angled-flat seats in Business, and 195 standard Economy Class seats.

Air India had cut down its first class seat to increase its economic capacity, which they primarily use on the San Francisco route. They had gone from 195 economy seats to 298 economy seats, that’s an increase of 103 economy class seats on Air India’s 777-200LRs.

Air India Boeing 777 237LR VT-ALG at San Francisco International Airport.

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Earlier this year, Air India announced Campbell Wilson as its chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director (MD). Meanwhile, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) gave security clearance to Air India CEO-designate Campbell Wilson. The security clearance from the Central government has paved the way for Campbell Wilson to take charge of Air India.

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Centre begins work on privatisation of Alliance Air & other Air India subsidiaries

Radhika Bansal

28 Jul 2022

After Air India, the Centre has now begun work on privatising its erstwhile subsidiaries - regional carrier Alliance Air Aviation, AI Engineering Services and AI Airport Services. The civil aviation ministry has begun a clean-up exercise, involving government guarantees that were given to Alliance Air.

Additionally, it will look at the infrastructure available with the other two subsidiaries and the HR issues, including manpower deployment, which will pave the way for seeking expression of interest over the next few months.

The sale of the entities will help the government garner some resources and recover some of the money it had pumped into Air India before it was sold. Of them, the engineering arm could see the maximum interest from potential buyers as the Tata Group has major fleet expansion plans.

Centre begins work on privatisation of Alliance Air & other Air India subsidiaries

A few renowned international airlines with large engineering subsidiaries are keen to forge alliances with Tatas to jointly run the maintenance shop here.

Alliance Air currently has a fleet of 19 turboprops - 18 ATRs and a made-in-India Dornier of HAL - and operates 115 daily departures on a network of 50 domestic destinations mainly in the north and Northeast India.

In April, almost three months after Air India's privatization, Alliance Air announced that it had completed the process of becoming a standalone airline, which meant that it no longer relied on Air India's network of bookings, customer service, or anything else.

The 800-employee-strong airline will induct two more ATRs by September and another HAL-made Dornier.

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The 800-employee-strong airline will induct two more ATRs by September and another HAL-made Dornier. The regional carrier plans to start an international route - Chennai-Jaffna - soon, depending on the situation in Sri Lanka.

IndiGo is the only financially stable operator of regional flights using turboprops in India. Industry insiders said that apart from IndiGo and Tata-owned Air India, no other Indian operator as of now has the required financial muscle to successfully bid for Alliance Air.

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AI Airport Services (AIASL), the ground handling arm providing services at airports, is facing its own issues right now. Citing a deterioration in its services causing flight delays, Air India had recently warned AIASL that it might opt for other service providers at some airports.

The engineering arm could see the maximum interest from potential buyers as the Tata Group has major fleet expansion plans.

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AIASL may see some interest from ground handlers already working at Indian airports. Last October, the government carved four subsidiaries out of Air India, while making the final preparations to return the Maharaja to the founder Tata Group along with Air India Express.

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They were transferred to an SPV, Air India Assets Holding (AIAHL), at book value. The government retained INR 44,679 crore of Air India's debt in this SPV which also got the subsidiaries, land and buildings. These will gradually be sold to pay off the debt.

While the dilapidated Centaur Delhi is set to be demolished, the Kashmir administration sealed the Srinagar property last month for violation of lease terms.

The fourth subsidiary, Hotel Corporation of India (HCI) runs Centaur in Delhi and Srinagar. While the dilapidated Centaur Delhi is set to be demolished, the Kashmir administration sealed the Srinagar property last month for violation of lease terms.

So there is nothing in HCI to be sold off for the government. Air India, handed to the Tatas this January, has so far been the most high-profile divestment of the Modi government.

(With Inputs from The Times of India)

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India needs 1,000 commercial pilots every year

Jinen Gada

27 Jul 2022

The Indian civil aviation market is the fastest growing in the world and India’s airport capacity is expected to handle around 1 billion trips by the end of next year. This fast-paced growth of the civil aviation sector, however, faces a bump, with the increasing shortage of trained commercial pilots.

It is expected that for the next five years, India would need 1,000 to 1,200 new pilots every year, against the current rate of around 600-700 commercial pilots who enter the market every year. Airline industry insiders say that the shortage of pilots is forcing some airlines not to take up new routes as there aren’t many pilots available to fly.

India will require 1,000 commercial pilots every year over the next 5-6 years: Minister.

According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the aviation watchdog, DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) has issued around 3,300 commercial pilot licences in India in the last five years. These include licences issued for cadets who have passed both from Indian Flying Training Organisations and Foreign Flying Training Organisations.

In the last five years, a little over 2,000 commercial pilot licences have been issued to cadets who have passed out from Indian Flying Training Organisations. Taking the last three years’ figures, there has been a slight increase in the number of commercial pilot licences issued in India.

As against 430 commercial pilot licences issued to cadets from Indian Flying Training Organisations in 2019, the number of such licences given out in 2021 increased to 504.

In the last five years, a little over 2,000 commercial pilot licences have been issued to cadets who have passed out from Indian Flying Training Organisations.

However, industry sources say that the figure is still very low as the launch of two new airlines—Akasa air and Jet Airways—would further pump up the demand for commercial pilot licences in India. Industry insiders say that with the launch of these two airlines, India would require at least 1,200 commercial pilots every year.

Airlines in India currently are dealing with the shortage of pilots by hiring commercial pilots from abroad, but foreign pilots are not given long-term licences by the DGCA and need to get their licences renewed every year from the DGCA.

This had been done by the DGCA to encourage Indian carriers to hire more Indian pilots. Sources from the pilot fraternity say that one of the reasons for the shortage of pilots in India is the high cost of pilot training and the lack of quality pilot training institutes in India.

Airline industry insiders say that the shortage of pilots is forcing some airlines not to take up new routes as there aren’t many pilots available to fly.

According to rough estimates, a commercial pilot training cost in India is about INR 60-75 lakh, depending upon the number of hours a pilot is being trained and the type of aircraft used for training.

It is also estimated that a pilot needs to submit somewhere between INR 15-20 lakh for training with the airlines before he or she is commissioned into flying passenger aircraft. The licencing procedure for pilots is also kept strict to ensure that “bad” pilots are not entering the market.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation is working towards establishing more flying schools in the country to train a greater number of commercial pilots. The Airports Authority of India approved the setting up of nine more flying schools in the country last year.

As against 430 commercial pilot licences issued to cadets from Indian Flying Training Organisations in 2019, the number of such licences given out in 2021 increased to 504.

Aviation experts feel getting the number of pilots every year will not be a problem. However, the issue is the quality of those coming out of flying schools. Aircraft are getting more sophisticated with lots of technology.

When it comes to ensuring knowledge, enhancing the minimum educational qualifications with a focus on science and engineering may provide an opportunity for the emerging pilots to get an insight into the machine that they will be handling.

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Air India CEO-designate Campbell Wilson gets security clearance from the home ministry

Jinen Gada

27 Jul 2022

The Ministry of Home Affairs has given security clearance to Air India CEO-designate Campbell Wilson, clearing the way for him to take charge of the airline.

Under civil aviation rules, clearance of the home ministry is mandatory for the appointment of key personnel at airlines, including foreigners.

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Tata Sons on May 12 announced the appointment of Campbell Wilson as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) of Air India after taking over the loss-making carrier on January 27.

Air India CEO-designate Campbell Wilson gets security clearance from the home ministry

Weeks after taking over Air India carrier, Tata Sons named Turkish Airlines' former Chairman Lyker Ayci as Air India's MD and CEO. Lyker Ayci was supposed to take over the MD and CRO of the carrier in April. Lyker Ayci, however, declined to join the group amid concerns expressed over his appointment in certain quarters.

Campbell Wilson was the CEO of Singapore Airlines subsidiary Scoot Air. Singapore Airlines is a joint venture partner of Tata Group in full-service carrier Vistara.

After working with Singapore Airlines, Campbell Wilson worked for the carrier in Canada, Hong Kong and Japan. In 2011, he returned to Singapore, as the founding CEO of Scoot, which he led until 2016.

Air India was started by the Tata Group in 1932 and the carrier was nationalised in 1953. 

At Singapore Airlines, Campbell Wilson also served as the senior vice president of sales and marketing, where he oversaw pricing, distribution, e-commerce, merchandising, brand and marketing, global sales and the airline's overseas offices. In April 2020, he returned for a second stint as the CEO of Scoot Air. Twenty-six years ago, Campbell Wilson started as a management trainee with Singapore Airlines.

"The airline's best years are yet to come. The journey to make Air India a world-class airline will require efforts that are "big and small, easy and difficult."Campbell Wilson in a message to Air India’s employees

In October 2021, the government through a competitive bidding process sold Air India to Talace Private Limited, a subsidiary of Tata Sons for INR 18,000 crore.

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Vijaywada water aerodrome gets INR 20 crore from Aviation Ministry

Radhika Bansal

27 Jul 2022

The ministry of civil aviation said INR 20 crore has been sanctioned for the water aerodrome at Prakasam Barrage. Vijayawada got one of the 14 water aerodromes awarded by the Centre to facilitate the sanctioned 28 seas plane routes.

General VK Singh, minister of state in the civil aviation ministry, replying to MP GVL Narasimha Rao, said the Centre has set focus on improving aerial connectivity to remote locations and making travel affordable.

The ministry of civil aviation said INR 20 crore has been sanctioned for the water aerodrome at Prakasam Barrage.

Hence it sanctioned 28 seaplane routes under the UDAN scheme. For this purpose, 14 water aerodromes are being constructed in six states/UTs for INR 287 crore.

The list of 14 water aerodromes being constructed includes one each in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana (Nagarjun- asagar reservoir) for INR 20 crore each.

Narasimha Rao opined that the Andhra Pradesh government must invite airline operators and offer concessions to bid for seaplane and helicopter services from Visakhapatnam.

As cruise tourism has already received a positive response in Visakhapatnam, seaplane and helicopter services should be promoted in a big way to improve regional connectivity and tourism.

As cruise tourism has already received a positive response in Visakhapatnam, seaplane and helicopter services should be promoted in a big way to improve regional connectivity and tourism.

He also said that seaplane services to places such as Bhimavaram and Kakinada would improve connectivity and boost business in the tourism sector. Mr. Narasimha Rao further said he would pursue the matter with the Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia.

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Vijayawada got one of the 14 water aerodromes awarded by the Centre to facilitate the sanctioned 28 seas plane routes.

Approximately 370 routes are being put in under the UDAN 4.2 scheme of which 100 are seaplane routes, 60-odd are helicopter routes, and the balance is fixed-wing routes.

So far, 425 UDAN routes have been operationalised across the country, connecting 68 UDAN airports, including two water aerodromes and eight heliports.

An airport which is included in the awarded routes of UDAN and requires upgradation/development for commencement of RCS (regional connectivity scheme) operations is developed under the 'Revival/upgradation of unserved and underserved airports/heliports/water aerodromes' scheme.

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Air India Express renews its IOSA registration

Radhika Bansal

27 Jul 2022

Tata Group's budget carrier Air India Express has renewed its registration under the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) programme following an audit carried out by IATA.

The registration has been renewed after a rigorous assessment of the operational management and control systems of the airline. Conducted by IATA auditors, this was one of the first on-site audits post-pandemic.

Air India Express renews its IOSA registration

The audit covers about 1,000 standards and recommended practices related to the safety of operations, as well as maintenance and engineering and the procedures of the airline.

IOSA is based on industry-proven quality audit principles and is designed to ensure that each audit is conducted in a standardised manner to achieve consistent results. IOSA was established in 2003 to meet airline industry needs for common globally-harmonised operating safety standards.

“We are happy to have renewed our IOSA registration, particularly as we look to an expansion of our fleet and network soon…. Air India Express meets the international benchmarks for operational safety, and follows global industry best practices."Aloke Singh, CEO, Air India Express

All IATA members are IOSA-registered and must remain registered to maintain IATA membership. Conversely, IATA membership is not a requirement to undergo an IOSA audit. According to IATA, there are dozens of airlines on the IOSA registry that are not IATA members.

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Following the disinvestment of its parent company Air India, Air India Express, is now part of the Tata Group.

Air India Express operates short and medium-haul international routes, connecting many smaller towns of India directly to the Gulf and South-East Asia regions, with a fleet of 24 Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The airline is the market leader in the low-cost carrier segment in the Gulf/Middle East region.

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Following the disinvestment of its parent company Air India, Air India Express, is now part of the Tata Group. It is soon going to be merged with AirAsia India which is also owned by Tata Group to have a strong regional arm.

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