Air India’s decision to join Star Alliance in July 2014 has benefited it. According to Pankaj Srivastava, commercial director of Air India, partner airlines have brought in a lot of benefits. Of the airlines in the alliance, 16-17 operate to India but their destinations are limited to Mumbai and Delhi. “AI gets the opportunity of flying those passengers to different destinations in India,” said Srivastava. AI's revenue from alliance member-airlines doubled from INR1.1b in 2013-14 to INR2.13b in 2014-15. Till December in the present financial year (ending March 31), it had earned INR1.8n from the alliance. There was apprehension that the alliance might result in AI not going for expansion on long-haul routes but be content to act as 'feeder' to some of the more powerful members. However, Srivastava said the alliance opened new gateways for them. <br/>
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Last Tuesday, junior aviation minister Mahesh Sharma informed the Rajya Sabha that Air India will make an operational profit of INR80m by the end of this fiscal. A day later, aviation secretary RN Choubey said that the airline will make a net profit in 2019. Both announcements are significant. An operational profit will be a first for the airline since it was merged with the erstwhile Indian Airlines, its domestic counterpart, in 2007. A net profit in 2019 will come a year ahead of the projection SBI Caps, the investment bank arm of State Bank of India, which had prepared a turnaround plan in 2012. These milestones will be mark a remarkable change of fortunes for an airline that has long embodied all that is terrible in Indian aviation. <br/>
Lufthansa, the first operator of Airbus Group’s troubled A320neo jetliner, is placing conditions on taking delivery of more of the planes this year after holding back on putting its second into service. Lufthansa will take formal delivery of its latest Neo “in coming days,” a spokeswoman said Monday. That would be about 6 weeks after a handover ceremony for the aircraft in Hamburg Feb 12. Like the first, the second plane will be restricted to routes within Germany so that it’s within easy reach of technicians amid concerns about an engine glitch. Lufthansa is set to receive 3 more A320neos this year, 1 in the summer and 2 in the fall. The spokeswoman didn’t specify the airline’s conditions for taking the planes. Lufthansa has a total of 116 A320neos on order. <br/>
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal is investigating whether Air Canada discriminated against an Arab-Canadian man through overzealous use of US aviation security lists. The investigation of Air Canada’s refusal to let him board a plane comes amid controversy about dozens of Canadian youngsters facing airport delays over security list mix-ups and high-level efforts by the federal govt to resolve the problems in Washington. The court-like human rights tribunal will determine whether the airline discriminated against the Syrian-Canadian man on grounds of race, national or ethnic origin, or his Muslim religion by denying him service, and whether its reliance on the American lists amounted to a discriminatory practice. Air Canada told the inquiry it does not profile passengers in a discriminatory way. <br/>
Lining up Continental former CE Gordon Bethune as part of a board slate for United Airlines is merely a ruse by 2 hedge funds to “smash and grab from United’s coffers,” according to the carrier’s pilot union. The funds enlisted Bethune “to play on employees’ good will and feelings of nostalgia,” leaders of United’s chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association said in a letter to its more than 11,000 members Monday. By seeking to place 6 directors on the United Continental Holdings board, the investors may interfere with the changes being implemented by CE Oscar Munoz, the union said. “We also have received a firm commitment from Mr. Munoz to address and fix the myriad problems that have been obvious to all employees for some time,” the union said. <br/>
United Airlines' intent to start San Francisco-Singapore service June 1 with a Boeing 787-9 is an important symbol of a new frontier in aviation, one where new airplanes will enable longer flights that will bypass Tokyo Narita, according to a new survey by OAG Aviation. "The continued introduction of the Boeing 787 and the Airbus A350 will revolutionise long-haul travel and the sectors flown by major airlines around the world," said OAG senior analyst John Grant. "The aircraft allow longer services that will allow thinner routes that will bypass existing major hubs around the globe." United and Boeing are ahead of the curve, he said, because United substantially leads its US competitors in building US-Asia traffic and Boeing substantially leads Airbus in delivering its newest most technologically advance widebody aircraft. <br/>