Air India pilot Arvind Kathpalia, whose flying licence was suspended in November 2018 after he failed pre-flight alcohol tests, has been appointed Regional Director (Northern Region) in the airline, said an official document Tuesday.

"Consequent to the retirement of Mr. Pankaj Kumar, Regional Director (Northern Region) after the close of the working hours of 30th April, 2019, Capt.

The five-hour shutdown of Air India's check-in software, which occurred Saturday morning, is still causing its ripple effect as the airline said 137 flights will be running with a delay on Sunday.

The average duration of delay -- on these 137 flights of Sunday -- would be of 197 minutes, the airline's spokesperson said.

Hundreds of Air India passengers were left stranded at several airports across the world as its check-in software stopped functioning for around six hours, the airline said Saturday.

According to airline sources, the software, which is of Atlanta-based SITA company, was not functioning approximately from 3 am to 9 am Saturday. Consequently, boarding passes could not be issued at major airports across the world and various flights were delayed.

Since the Rs 29,464-crore Air India working-capital debt taken over by it is backed by a sovereign guarantee, the Centre’s special purpose vehicle Air India Assets Holding (AIAHL) is set to ask banks to cut interest rate on bulk of the loan to about 8.5% from 10.5-11% now.

The shifting of this debt to AIAHAL from the carrier was one of the steps taken to make the airline attractive to potential buyers.

Air India Express, the international budget arm of Air India, is examining the possibility of leasing some Boeing 737 aircraft of grounded carrier Jet Airways, which are parked at different airports due to non-payment, through a firm decision is yet to be taken, a top company official said Sunday.

Before halting operations temporarily mid-last week due to severe cash-drought, the private carrier was forced to ground 69 planes owing to non-payment of rentals to lessors.

Air India chairman Ashwani Lohani is likely to meet State Bank chairman Rajnish Kumar Friday over the national carrier’s plans to lease five wide-body Boeing planes from the now grounded Jet Airways.

Weighed down by a mountain of debt and falling revenue, Jet Airways announced suspension of its entire operations from Wednesday night and owns 16 wide-body planes, 10 B777-300ERs and six Airbus A330s.

New Delhi/Mumbai: Budget airline SpiceJet Ltd and national carrier Air India Ltd have stepped in to stabilize India's aviation industry and ease the pain from wage losses caused by Jet Airways (India) Ltd’s descent into insolvency and operational shutdown.

SpiceJet is making all possible efforts to soften the blow to the aviation industry caused by Jet’s suspension of operations on Wednesday, said the airline’s chairman and managing director, Ajay Singh.

New Delhi: A boarding pass issued by Air India with pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has come under criticism, days after the PM's photo on railway tickets created a furore.

The airline said the passes featuring the photographs, which were third-party advertisements, would be withdrawn if they are found to be in violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

New Delhi: National carrier Air India on Friday requested its "inactive" crew members to "immediately" join work at a time when the airline has been forced to cancel and reroute a number of US and Europe-bound flights due to closure of Pakistan airspace since February 27.

Air India announced it is suspending its flights on Delhi-Madrid and Delhi-Birmingham routes from March 16 till further notice due to “operational reasons”.

As Pakistan has kept its airspace closed since February 26 due to the Balakot air strike by Indian air force, Air India’s expenditure on flights to Europe and the US have significantly increased.

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