[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

All of Air India's procurement news has been complete speculation.

My guess is Air India will announce these at the Bangalore Aero show due in a short while. That would be the right political thing to do given how eager Government's are to position these air shows as mega events. That these negotiations are going on and effectively close to closure is not in doubt. Who do you think are behind these drip feed leaks - Air India, Boeing, Airbus, GE and P&W.

[fhdowntheline]

Originally Posted by shortbread

One of the best things Air India can do is to diversify its main hubs to other regional airports like Amritsar, Kochi, new UP etc.... rather than clinging onto Delhi and Mumbai.
Gluing themselves to Delhi and Mumbai operations is why Air India is still stuck with senior ex-govt. dinosaurs! I know they're important ports, but AI must desperately look to diversify to other cities.

This may be slightly OT for this thread, but an excellent point to start another thread on the next potential airport hubs in India, going beyond the big 4 (BOM/DEL/MAA/BLR).

[libranof1987]

Tata takes further steps to consolidate its four airlines post the acquisition of Air India: the Vistara moniker will cease to exist once the merger is complete.

Air India, owned by the Tata group, will discontinue the Vistara brand on completion of its merger with Tata SIA Airlines Ltd, the operator of Vistara airline, chief executive and managing director Campbell Wilson said.

“Vistara clearly has a very strong recognition in the Indian market...but if you look outside the Indian market, clearly Air India is much more recognized and has a 90-year history. So, the future full-service carrier will be called Air India, but we would like to retain and celebrate some of the Vistara heritage in that new manifestation," Wilson told reporters in a virtual press conference

https://www.livemint.com/companies/n...521516029.html

For context, both Tata and SIA recently invested a sizeable amount in Vistar:

The Tata Group and SIA infused Rs 331.5 crore and Rs 318.5 crore, respectively, in Vistara on November 16, bringing its total equity investments since its inception in 2015 to Rs 9,900 crore.

https://www.deccanherald.com/busines...t-1175804.html

There is certainly a huge brand pull (often positive, at times negative) of the Maharaja, and no one will really miss Vistara as such. Tata seems to be on its way to run everything as one airline. (They recently absorbed Air Asia India)

[V.Narayan]

Air India Express – Air Asia complete operational integration under the umbrella of Air India.

https://www.cnbctv18.com/aviation/ai...p-16281891.htm

Both low cost arms of the Tata group have completed their operational integration. First step towards Air India becoming one over arching airline under the aegis of Tata. Step in the right direction but the devil will be in the details on the ground to make two disparate teams work seamlessly and raise service standards of both to Indigo levels.

Merger of Vistara with Air India will be trickier given that where service goes Vistara is the better half!

[volkman10]

Air India pilots write to Ratan Tata, allege lack of respect and dignity by HR department.

[shortbread]

It will be interesting to read what are the exact changes that the unions want reversed back to the ways of old. A public statement simply using words like respect, dignity, morale etc is way too vague. What are the specifics of the previous govt. run managements treatment that the unions find way better than the new regime?

The unions keep referring to 'suffering', which is precisely what Air India passengers endured under decades of sarkaari babu's and employees...... only if us passengers could form a union!

[heydj]

Basically lazy people of government have been privatised and now in their middle age being forced to work for first time in their lives.

Air India should sack the lot and hire people who want to work. Enough of this union system destroying industries worldwide.

To grow one has to work hard. No pain no gain.

[PetrolRider]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Air India pilots write to Ratan Tata, allege lack of respect and dignity by HR department.

It is beyond me, why this is or rather should be in the public forum.
The employee and employer are bound by a contract. Any modification / change in contract is always the mater between the employee and employer. In any case the contract is not viable to either party, there is always a well defined exit clause that can be executed by both party. Least, parties can also take legal course in case they feel a breach of agreement.

I don't understand what the aggrieved party here wanted from entity not concerned by publishing this on public news?
In my field, this kind of antics of circumventing internal process and putting internal company matter on public are termed breach of trust and entitled for termination.

[V.Narayan]

Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran on Air India: 'Give us time to develop a world-beating product'

https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/...977-2023-04-26

Dear Mr. Chandrasekaran,

My question, Sir, to you is why can we, the customers, not start witnessing incremental changes. Why wait a long time for a big bang viola product to enter one fine morning. Service standards don't happen one fine day they are a culture that is developed at the grass roots bit by bit, employee by employee. It takes one to two weeks, depending on size, of well planned effort to refurbish the cosmetic internal looks of an aircraft. Changing the external livery is again a 7 to 10 day job depending on size. Start somewhere please. From recent incidents it is clear that efforts to improve the culture have a very long way to go.

Merging Vistara with Air India frankly makes me dread that Vistara will sink to Air India's levels of service. After having tried Air India twice, once in economy and once in business I've gone back to my tried and tested formula of Indigo or Vistara in that order.

You are right that every flying Indian wants Air India to win but let's not take forever to get about it. Let's start with basics of where the customer touches the airline - proper seats, clean toilets, seat covers that are not ragged, baggage that arrives on time, punctuality of take-off & landing, pilots who conduct themselves as professionals and not feudal lords, check in queues at Delhi which are not serpentine and so on to name a few. You don't need McKinsey to tell you this.

Best of luck. Till then I'll stick to Indigo and Vistara.

Regards,

V.Narayan

[mpksuhas]

Came across this video on YouTube few days back, from Schiphol Amsterdam.

https://youtu.be/a4a7g6S9vQg?si=sjIl3oNKhGQdAVVQ

[aashishnb]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Came across this video on YouTube few days back, from Schiphol Amsterdam.
https://Youtu.be/a4a7g6S9vQg?si=sjIl3oNKhGQdAVVQ

I think this water canon salute is done when an aircraft is being retired.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by aashishnb

I think this water canon salute is done when an aircraft is being retired.

The water canon salute is done to mark an important event: it could be,

- the start or end of service from an airline / type of aircraft (which is the case in this video) at the airport
- the pilot retiring
- the aircraft type being retired
- the aircraft carrying someone of importance (typically, military background)

[BoneCollector]

This in all probability is the first Airbus350 of Air India and may be the first aircraft to don the new livery of Air India.

Source

#Breaking
It seems the first #A350 for @airindia (AI) - MSN 554 (seen below) will bear the registration mark VT-JRH. This will be the first AI aircraft to have a registration mark starting with 'JR'. A very evident tribute to the father of Indian #aviation JRD Tata.
Interestingly, the registration marks for the #A321neo fleet at AI begin with 'RT' indicating they are dedicated to @RNTata2000 , Chairman Emeritus of #TataGroup.

[volkman10]

Air India rebranding, new logo unveiled. Golden window in new logo signified new possibilities says Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran.

In midst of transformation...still long way to go: CEO Campbell Wilson

Every element of new logo is inspired from India's culture and signature patterns of Air India's identity. The colours and patterns in new brand identity signifies confidence and progress as part of rebranding.

The new Air India, the vision we have for the airline will be unveiled today.The new logo of Air India the Vista, signifies limitless possibilities...The Tata Group has been working on this transformation for the last 15 months

To make Air India a globally competitive airline requires a lot of work. In the last 12 months we have put together a strong team and are focusing on upgrading all human resources in the airline. We are working to refurbish our current fleet to be in power with global standards.

While we have placed one of the largest aircraft orders, it will take time for new planes to arrive. In the meanwhile, we have to refurbish and get our current fleet to acceptable level

New website, mobile app, customer care setup by year-end.


Link

[sravankrishnan]

On first look at the logo I was a bit skeptical, but it has already grown on me in a few minutes! Absolutely love the new colors and livery. Hope they launch enough new point to point routes to Europe and US relying less on DEL and BOM. Also hope they update their app and website as well.