Mumbai: The morning after an Air India plane flying in from Varanasi made an emergency landing at Delhi’s airport due to a hydraulic leak, the aircraft had a surprise visitor: Ashwani Lohani, who joined as the state-run airline’s new chairman and managing director just a week ago.

Ever since he took charge of the country’s ailing flag carrier, the 1980 batch Indian Railways Service officer has been on his feet, meeting everyone from baggage loaders to board directors as he tries to feel the pulse of the airline, multiple Air India executives who regularly interact with him said.

NEW DELHI: The old Airbus A-320 which made an emergency landing in Delhi on Monday night-leaving 20 passengers injured-had given signs of trouble earlier in the day, but these were either ignored or hastily addressed by the airline.

Author William Dalrymple, who was on this Khajuraho-Varanasi-Delhi flight, told the media that the flight was first cancelled in Khajuraho. All passengers were returned their check-in bags at the airport.

Mumbai: One of state-run Air India Ltd’s pilot unions on Wednesday has extended the date to conduct a secret ballot on whether to declare a strike or not.

The Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association (ICPA) had told its members that “the central executive committee is of the strong judgement to declare strike”, adding that “a secret ballot is called for this purpose from 31 August to 6 September for a mandate as the Constitution of ICPA”.

Air India and its subsidiaries will now have six recognised unions following an election to reduce the number of trade unions in the airline. Prior to the elections there were fourteen recognised trade unions in the airline and two subsidiaries.

The rationale behind the move to recognise fewer unions was that it would lead to better decision making and efficiency.

A section of Air India’s pilots is agitating against their being declassified as workmen and proposed pay cuts. This led to the airline’s flights getting delayed on Friday. While Directorate General of Civil Aviation sources said 10 flights were delayed, the airline claimed only three were impacted. “Out of the 300 flights operated today (Friday), so far only three have been delayed, due to non-reporting of crew on time. All our flights are operating smoothly as per schedule,” Air India officials told Business Standard.

The commanders are protesting against a clarification by the labour ministry on Tuesday, excluding them from the workmen category in the Industrial Disputes Act. They can no longer be part of trade unions, their service conditions can be changed, and they will not be able to raise a dispute against their employers.

Air India's new chief Ashwani Lohani already has a challenge on his hands even before assuming charge.

Pilots of the national carrier have decided to 'go slow', leading to delays in both domestic and international operations.

NEW DELHI: The possibility of a renewed attempt by Pakistan-sponsored terror groups to foment trouble around Independence Day by exploiting the resentment over alleged discrimination of Muslims by the judiciary in the wake of execution of 1993 blasts convict Yakub Memon has led the Centre to issue a detailed advisory to all states and Union territories for heightened surveillance.

Mumbai: The government has declined to immediately allow state-run Air India Ltd to offer US-bound passengers immigration pre-clearance facility in India, a service that rival Etihad Airways PJSC offers from its Abu Dhabi airport hub.

Through pre-clearance, immigration, customs and other related inspections of international air passengers performed on arrival in the US can be completed before departure at a foreign airport.

Air India (AI) will sign an agreement with Citibank and State Bank of India to raise $300 million (Rs 1,900 crore) of external commercial borrowing.

The loan is backed with a sovereign guarantee and will be used for working capital, payment for aircraft spares and bridging the gap caused by delays in equity infusion by the government. The first tranche will be released next week, AI sources said. The loan is repayable over five years and carries annual interest of around 2.5 per cent.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Friday ordered the removal of Air India chief of air safety Captain AS Soman for not maintaining flight monitoring data, sources said.

Soman was appointed Air India's air safety chief in January this year.

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