IndiGo becomes 1st desi airline to have over 2,000 planned flights daily

NEW DELHI: IndiGo has become the first Indian carrier to have over 2,000 scheduled or planned flights daily. The Rahul Bhatia-founded airline, which started flying on August 4, 2006, had in December 2017 become the first Indian carrier to operate 1,000 flightsin a day with the budget carrier taking over 11 years to reach that […]

IndiGo codeshares with Turkish Airlines to connect to Nordic cities

MUMBAI: IndiGo on Thursday has announced the expansion of codeshare connections to Helsinki, Stockholm, and Oslo via Istanbul, in partnership with Turkish Airlines. “The connections to Helsinki and Stockholm will become operational on November 23, 2023, while Oslo will be effective from November 17, 2023. These additions bolster connectivity to northern Europe, offering customers access […]

Airlines in last-minute talks to rescue Dubai Airshow deals

DUBAI: Emirates and Rolls-Royce sought to narrow differences over engine pricing on Wednesday as the Dubai Airshow entered a third day reeling from a public spat over engine performance and business terms that blocked a deal for Airbus A350-1000 jets. Emirates Airline president Tim Clark warned Airbus and Rolls-Royce on Tuesday that increased engine downtime […]

Vistara launches flights between Mumbai and Frankfurt

MUMBAI: Vistara, the Tata group and Singapore Airlines joint venture airline inaugurated non-stop weekly flights between Mumbai and Frankfurt on Wednesday. “The inaugural flight, operated on Vistara’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, commenced from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai at 13:00 Hours (IST) on 15 November and will arrive at Frankfurt International Airport at 17:30 Hours […]

Asia airlines brace for cost hit, slow return of Chinese fliers

SINGAPORE: Asia-Pacific airlines face headwinds from rising fuel prices and high inflation, industry executives said on Friday, adding to a downbeat outlook for a segment where travel demand is struggling to recover fully to pre-pandemic levels. The region’s air travel recovered to just 69% of 2019 levels for the year through September, trailing all other […]

IndiGo and Qantas to extend their codeshare partnership

PUNE: IndiGo has announced the extension of its codeshare agreement with Australia’s national airline, Qantas. Under this agreement, IndiGo customers will now be able to access 4 new destinations – Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane in Australia, starting with Melbourne, and with Sydney, Perth, and Brisbane to go online in the coming weeks, airline officials […]

Air India’s virtual agent ‘Maharaja’ starts using AI to answer flyer queries in four languages

NEW DELHI: Air India on Friday said it has become the world’s first airline to have successfully deployed a generative AI virtual agent — called ‘Maharaja’ — powered by Azure OpenAI service. This Maharajahas answered over 5 lakh customer queries since its pilot launch in March 2023, and currently manages over 6,000 queries a day […]

Air India becomes world’s first airline to adopt AI virtual agent ‘Maharaja’

Domestic service Air India became the world’s first airline to successfully deploy a generative AI virtual agent called ‘Maharaja’. The Tata Sons-owned airline company launched a pilot of this AI-based agent in March 2023. The AI-based agent can answer 6,000 queries in four languages in a day. Air India’s Maharaja AI agent, which is powered […]

Maha books Air India Building for Rs 1,601cr, to put seats for govt staff

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra cabinet on Wednesday cleared the plan to buy the iconic, sea-facing Air India Building in Nariman Point to house government offices. As part of the deal, the state will pay Rs 1,601 crore to Air India Assets Holding Ltd, which was formed by the Centre and vested with several AI-owned properties before […]

Air India now provides air-rail connections across 5600 train stations in Germany

PUNE: Air India has entered an intermodal interline agreement with WorldTicket, the exclusive distributor for Europe’s largest railway operator, Deutsche Bahn. The collaboration enables Air India guests to travel on a single intermodal ticket beyond Frankfurt with convenient train connections to or from other cities and towns across Germany, including those without airports, on Deutsche […]