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:
“She [Evelina] is a little angel!... Her face and person answer my most refined ideas of complete beauty.... She has the same gentleness in her manners, the same natural graces in her motions, that I formerly so much admired in her mother. Her character seems truly ingenuous and simple; and at the same time that nature has blessed her with an excellent understanding and great quickness of parts, she has a certain air of inexperience and innocency that is extremely interesting.”
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)
“India has 2,000,000 gods, and worships them all. In religion other countries are paupers; India is the only millionaire.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)