Bangalore: Some wings of national carrier Air India would soon be hived off to right-size its staff strength and monetise its assets for an early turn-around, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said on Tuesday. "As part of the Rs 30,000-crore ($5.5 billion) turn-around package, Air India's engineering and ground support units will be hived off into separate entities to reduce its employee ratio per aircraft and make it more efficient...
10:15 PM, Jul 17, 2012
Lucknow: A Taliban-like diktat in a village Panchayat in Uttar Pradesh has banned love marriages and also barred young women from using mobile phones. What is most shocking is that the Panchayat is located in Baghpat, which is barely 50 km from the national capital and is Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh's constituency. The Panchayat has also banned women under the age of 40 years from going out shopping and...
07:59 AM, Jul 13, 2012
New Delhi: Serious questions are now being raised against Union Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh. Is air safety being compromised to shield Kingfisher Airlines? CNN-IBN has accessed the file noting of former DGCA E K Bharat Bhushan that makes it clear that the DGCA boss was sacked a day after he drafted a warning to kingfisher airlines threatening termination of licence. The file noting signed by Bhushan says, "Kingfisher has...
09:34 PM, Jul 12, 2012
New Delhi: Hours after promising that they would return to work, the striking Air India pilots are now refusing to end their strike despite assurances from the management. They had earlier promised the Delhi High Court that they would return to work within the next 48 hours. Representatives of the pilots on strike had even said that 434 pilots would give affidavits indicating their willingness to return to work. The...
08:56 PM, Jul 03, 2012
New Delhi: The strike by a section of Air India pilots will on Monday enter the 57th day, to attain the notorious distinction of becoming the second longest strike in the country's aviation history. The Indian Pilots Guild (IPG), the union of Air India pilots, had also struck work in 1974 against cost cutting measures when fuel prices shot up alarmingly. The 1974 strike lasted for well over 90 days....
09:39 AM, Jul 02, 2012
New Delhi: In a bid to restore normalcy in its curtailed international schedule, Air India has resumed operations to Tokyo via Shanghai and plans to launch flights to Hong Kong, which were stopped due to the pilots' strike that entered the 50th day on Tuesday. As the pilots continued their hunger strike for the third day in Delhi and Mumbai to focus on their demands relating to career progression, Air...
02:43 AM, Jun 27, 2012
New Delhi: There was no end in sight to the 49-day-old Air India pilots strike with the government on Monday making it clear that they have to return to work "unconditionally" and the pilots insisting that sack orders be withdrawn immediately. "We want them to come back (to work). All they have to do is to come back unconditionally to work. They never gave a notice (of going on strike)....
12:25 PM, Jun 25, 2012
New Delhi: Eleven striking pilots of Air India on Sunday went on an indefinite hunger-strike seeking the reinstatement of 101 sacked pilots. "Our protest is for the reinstatement of our sacked colleagues and for the recognition of our union," Rohit Kapahi of the Indian Pilots Guild, which has been de-recognized by the government, told IANS. "We want to bring the strike to an end as soon as possible," added Kapahi,...
04:24 PM, Jun 24, 2012
Hyderabad: The government on Sunday ruled out raising the 49 per cent FDI cap in the Indian aviation sector. "I don't think so. Because the 1934 Civil Aviation Act says management has to be in Indian hands, majority of directors have to be Indian. Whatever worries people have, government will still decide the routes, government will still give at what time they fly and where," Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh...
06:47 PM, Jun 17, 2012
Hyderabad: Virtually sounding a warning to the striking Air India pilots, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh on Sunday said the government is not waiting for the pilots to return to work but making plans to move ahead. Reminding the pilots and other employees that their survival was linked to Air India, he said that nobody is going to give anymore public money to the airline and "they will not survive...
05:49 PM, Jun 17, 2012
New Delhi: The Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday said that it wanted the Civil Aviation Ministry to sort out the ongoing crisis at Air India "amicably" and that it was not in favour of sacking the striking pilots. Sources of the PMO said, "The PMO wants the Civil Aviation Ministry to come to a solution as soon as possible. The issue should be sorted amicably." They added, "The PMO is...
05:39 PM, Jun 12, 2012
New Delhi: As Air India mulled sacking 300 striking Air India pilots, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh on Monday said the management should take a call now on how long can the airline keep the defiant pilots on its payroll if they stayed away for work. With the 36-day-old strike showing no signs of being called off, the troubled national carrier meanwhile set up a committee to review its global...
01:46 AM, Jun 12, 2012
Catch the day's top stories on India at 9 with Rajdeep Sardesai. ...
11:56 PM, Jun 11, 2012
Air India prepares to sack all 300 striking pilots. Ajit Singh tells CNN IBN that he's run out of patience. ...
11:36 PM, Jun 11, 2012
The Maharashtra Women and Child Welfare Ministry will adopt the four daughters of a woman labourer from Beed district who died during an illegal abortion last month. ...
10:53 PM, Jun 11, 2012
New Delhi: With no resolution in sight to the Air India pilots strike, the Civil Aviation Ministry seems ready to crack the whip. Do 300 pilots of the erstwhile Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) stand to loose their jobs? And what would that mean for the airline? Nearly 440 Air India pilots have been on agitation for over 35 days, of which 101 have been sacked already, and the remaining still...
08:48 PM, Jun 11, 2012
New Delhi: With Air India considering further crackdown on the striking pilots, Civil Aviation Ministry sources say that the government has a back up plan and is prepared to manage without the IPG pilots. The government on Monday said it is for airlines management to decide for how long to keep them on their payroll when they are not working. "It is for the Air India management to take action...
04:04 PM, Jun 11, 2012
CNN-IBN's Karma Paljor spoke to Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh about the ongoing crisis in Air India. ...
02:33 PM, Jun 11, 2012
New Delhi: It has been more than a month since a section of pilots of Air India went on a strike. Aviation Minister Ajit Singh has said it is up to the Airline management to take strict action now. Sources in the Aviation Ministry say that sacking all 440 pilots affiliated to the Indian Pilots Guild is inevitable. Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said it was up to the management...
10:21 AM, Jun 11, 2012
New Delhi: A further crackdown on the striking Air India pilots is being contemplated by the management and that 300 pilots could be dismissed with the 35-day-old strike on Sunday showing no signs of being called off. Around 400 Air India pilots owing allegiance to Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) are on strike since May 7 and the services of 101 pilots have already been terminated. Sources in the state-owned airline...
11:19 PM, Jun 10, 2012
