Latest news with #SaurabhSinha
Time of India
a day ago
- Business
- Time of India
Airport lounge experience set for a change
NEW DELHI: Soon, you won't need to queue up to access an airport lounge. To boost lounge experience, several operators and credit card-issuing banks are planning direct business, removing aggregators on whose machine a flyer swipes their credit card to enter a lounge, reports Saurabh Sinha. They plan to launch an app where lounge access can be booked in advance. Then the passenger just needs to swipe their card at the lounge gate and be seated in a particular area as per their credit card status. "A flyer can log in with an OTP and link all his/her credit cards. The app will check whether he/she has lounge access available and then allow them to book a lounge at the airport they are flying out of," said an official. "For banks, lounge access is among key features of premium credit cards, but the experience at present is not good. So hard-selling premium cards using this as a USP becomes difficult. Full-service airlines are also upset that their premium passengers have to queue up in the same line with a credit card," said a source. However, many flyers have credit cards therefore the lounge use is no longer limited to those flying full-service airlines. Operators are planning to have separate areas for premium card, business, first class flyers to offer better experience at big lounges. However, two leading lounge operators said, "Aggregators have warned us of stopping lounge entry if they are removed from the business. We are taking legal steps to prevent that. " Stay informed with the latest business news, updates on bank holidays and public holidays . AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Time of India
2 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Air India to cut overseas flights on wide-body aircraft by 15% at least till mid-July
Representative Image NEW DELHI: Air India will reduce its international services on wide-body aircraft by 15% with immediate effect "at least" till mid-July, reports Saurabh Sinha. AI operates about 70 international flights daily on its wide-body fleet. Multiple factors, including airspace closures, have increased flying times to and from the west and enhanced checks on Boeing 787s since AI 171 crash last Thursday have reduced twin aisle availability. The math was worked out thus: AI operated 462 flights on its wide-body fleet of Boeing 787s, B777s & Airbus A350s between June 2 and 17 while canceling 83 flights in that period. Which means 15.2% of the 545 flights that were to be operated were cancelled inconveniencing passengers. Taking that ratio and aligning schedules to actual capacity to mount flights, AI has cut wide body flights by 15%. Stay informed with the latest business news, updates on bank holidays and public holidays . AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Time of India
5 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
The Dream's Not Buried But Tatas Must Wake Up
The Dream's Not Buried But Tatas Must Wake Up Saurabh Sinha TNN Jun 15, 2025, 19:52 IST IST AI 171 crash should make airline listen much more to employees' concerns over operational issues. The group has the ability to restore AI's reputation Oct 8, 2021 | 'Tatas will have the opportunity of regaining the image and reputation it ( Air India ) enjoyed in earlier years. JRD Tata would have been overjoyed…' – Ratan Tata 's tweet on winning the bid to acquire AI alongwith AI Express. June 13, 2025 | 'In shock and mourning…for so many deaths to occur at once is of the darkest days in Tata Group's history'. Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran said a day after the AI 171 crash.
Time of India
23-05-2025
- Climate
- Time of India
IAF helped IndiGo plane land safely in J&K after Pakistan snub
NEW DELHI: When IndiGo's Delhi-Srinagar flight of May 21 flew into severe turbulence and a hailstorm near Pathankot, they first tried to steer clear of the bad weather but were not allowed to do so by Lahore ATC. They then considered returning to Delhi before deciding to continue to Srinagar, safely manoeuvring through challenging operating circumstances before safely landing the plane with 220 people, reports Saurabh Sinha. "Once Lahore refused overflight clearance, and the aircraft proceeded towards Srinagar, the flight was subsequently professionally assisted," IAF sources said. IndiGo pilots flew aircraft manually till they came out of hailstorm The flight was subsequently professionally assisted till a safe-landing at Srinagar airfield by giving control vectors and groundspeed readouts," IAF sources said. During this time, the pilots of IndiGo flight (6E-2142) got multiple warnings - like maximum operating speed and angle of attack fault - for the Airbus A321neo (VT-IMD). They flew the aircraft manually (without autopilot) till they exited the hailstorm and declared an urgency situation. The aircraft touched down at Srinagar with everyone safe. But the plane's nosecone (radome) was damaged while flying through the hailstorm. DGCA, which is probing the incident, said in a statement Friday that the aircraft flew into the hailstorm while cruising at 36,000 feet: "As per crew statement, they requested IAF Northern Control for deviating left towards the international border due to weather on the route. However, it was not approved. Later, crew contacted Lahore (air traffic control) to enter their airspace to avoid the weather but the same was also refused. Crew initially attempted to return (to Delhi) but as they were close to the thunderstorm cloud, they decided to penetrate the weather." "Crew chose to continue at the same heading to exit the weather by shortest route towards Srinagar. While in thunderstorm cloud, warnings of angle of attack fault, alternate law protection lost and backup speed scale unreliable were triggered. Due to updraft & downdraft... autopilot tripped and aircraft speed had wide variations. As a result, maximum operating speed/maximum operating Mach warnings and repeated stall warnings were triggered," DGCA said. During this period, DGCA statement says, the plane's rate of descent reached 8,500 feet per minute. "Crew flew the aircraft manually till they exited the hailstorm. After carrying out all checklist actions, crew declared PAN PAN (urgency call) to Srinagar ATC, requested radar vectors, and made a safe landing with auto thrust operating normally," it added. IAF sources said: "The NOTAM issued by Pakistani civil aviation authorities was in vogue (barring Indian aircraft from Pakistani airspace)..."
Time of India
23-04-2025
- Time of India
11k fly out of Srinagar on Wednesday, 2k more than a normal day
NEW DELHI: About 11,000 people - mostly peak summer season holidayers - are expected to have flown out of Srinagar on Wednesday, a day after the Pahalgam attack . Airport sources say Srinagar on an average sees 52 aircraft arrivals and as many departures daily with 10,000-12,000 passengers (about half of them arrivals and half departures) in non-peak and 16,000-18,000 in the current peak season, reports Saurabh Sinha. Srinagar Airport , which handles flights from 6 am to 10 pm, on Wednesday saw 9,251 passengers fly out on 47 flights till 7pm. With several more flights in the remaining three hours, this number is expected to swell further by anywhere up to 2,000. Given the exodus, airlines, including Air India, IndiGo and AI Express, operated seven extra flights on Wednesday to fly out people from there. Srinagar-bound flights saw a large number of passenger cancellations. The rush to fly out caused fares for flights out of Srinagar to briefly rise to as high as Rs 32,000 for a one-way journey to Delhi, prompting govt to step in.
