Air India is the flag carrier airline of India. It is part of the government owned Air India Limited (AIL). The airline operates a fleet of Airbus and Boeing aircraft serving Asia, Europe and North America. Its corporate office is located at the Air India Building at Nariman Point in South Mumbai. The airline plans to move its corporate headquarters from Mumbai to Delhi sometime in 2013. Air India has two major domestic hubs at Indira Gandhi International Airport and Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. The airline formerly operated a hub at Frankfurt International Airport which was terminated on account of high costs. However, another international hub is being planned at the Dubai International Airport.
From being the largest operator in the Indian subcontinent, Air India has slipped to the fourth spot in the Indian domestic aviation sector, behind Jet Airways, IndiGo and SpiceJet (May 2012). Following its merger with Indian Airlines, Air India has faced multiple problems, including escalating financial losses, Between September 2007 and May 2011, Air India's domestic market share declined from 19.2% to 14%, primarily because of stiff competition from private Indian carriers. In August 2011, Air India's invitation to join Star Alliance was suspended as a result of its failure to meet the minimum standards for the membership. In October 2011, talks between the airline and Star Alliance have resumed. In April 2012, the Indian government granted another bailout package to Air India, including Rs300 billion ($5.8 billion) of subsidies.
Read more about Air India: Financial Crisis and Restructuring, Destinations, Fleet, Awards and Recognitions, Accidents and Incidents
Famous quotes containing the words air and/or india:
“What is lawful is not binding only on some and not binding on others. Lawfulness extends everywhere, through the wide-ruling air and the boundless light of the sky.”
—Empedocles 484–424 B.C., Greek philosopher. The Presocratics, p. 142, ed. Philip Wheelwright, The Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc. (1960)
“India is an abstraction.... India is no more a political personality than Europe. India is a geographical term. It is no more a united nation than the Equator.”
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965)