New Delhi: An Air India plane flying to London was forced to return to Mumbai after passengers spotted a rat on board, the airline said on Thursday.

Though the rat was not found, the pilot returned to Mumbai on Wednesday keeping passenger safety in mind, Air India said in a statement.

In the new Air India offer announced today by the government-run airline, two special schemes enable passengers to ring in the New Year 2016 in style – these are ‘New Year Special’ and ‘Lucky First’.

Under the New Year Special offer, passengers will get an all-inclusive one-way fare of Rs 5,016 for travel between the metros on flights departing between 8 pm on December 31, and 8 am on January 1, the national carrier said in a statement.

Minister of State for Culture and Tourism and Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma on Saturday said that recent circular by Air India has been misinterpreted and there is no change in the previous orders and only some upgradations have been made.

"It has been misinterpreted. The real truth is that in short halt flights where the time span is between 60-90 minutes, we used to serve sandwiches and snacks which used to be vegetarian. Only thing was that there was a long demand that there should be some hot food as well," Sharma told ANI.

National passenger carrier Air India on Friday increased its regional connectivity by commencing flight operations to Surat and Gwalior from Mumbai.

According to the airline, both flights — Mumbai-Surat-Mumbai and Mumbai-Gwalior-Mumbai will operate three times a week on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Kerala Governor Justice P Sathasivam failed to board an Air India flight from Kochi to the state capital after the pilot reportedly refused to wait for the dignitary and took off.

Raj Bhavan sources said the Governor reached Nedumbassery International airport about 10 minutes before the flight was to depart at 11:40 PM yesterday, but the "step ladder had been removed and the flight was pushing back".

The government has taken steps to prevent poaching of pilots of Air India by its competitors with the national carrier facing a shortage of 180 trained pilots due to resignation and natural attrition, Rajya Sabha was informed today.

"There is a shortage of approximately 180 trained pilots due to resignations/attrition in the recent past and ensuing fleet augmentation," Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma said in reply to a questioning Rajya Sabha.

The pilot and co-pilot of an Air India plane involved in last night’s freak accident at the Mumbai airport where a technician died after getting sucked into the engine have been grounded even as the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau launched a probe.

Air India Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani, who rushed to Mumbai this morning for an on-the-spot inquiry, said, “initially it seems that there was some communication gap.” He, however, refused to go into the details of what could have possibly caused the mishap described as a “serious accident.”

In a freak accident, an aircraft technician died after being sucked into the engine of an Air India aircraft during push back at the Mumbai airport this evening.

The mishap occurred when the co-pilot of Mumbai-Hyderabad flight 619 mistook a signal for starting the engine and the victim, Ravi Subramanian, who was standing close, got sucked into it at bay 28 of the Chhatrapati Shivaji domestic airport around 8:40 pm.

AHMEDABAD: For the first time since merger of Indian Airlines into Air India, the national carrier is likely to report an operating profit of about Rs six crores in the current fiscal, owing to a combination of factors including lower fuel costs and Dreamliner operations, among others.

The Dreamliners (Boeing 787-800) are helping the company to turnaround it's business in a big way, said Anil Mehta, the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the AI Chairman and Managing Director.

IN an attempt to revive its fortune, cash-strapped Air India is focusing on increasing operating efficiency and simultaneously reducing working capital- and aircraft-related debt, according to the turnaround plan tabled in 2012. The national carrier is also trying to monetise its assets in India and abroad to increase revenues.

The total debt of Air India in FY15 stood at around Rs 50,000 crore, of which Rs 19,000 crore is related to aircraft. A senior official of the airline told FE that the airline has managed to repay 50% of the total airline-related debt.

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