Airlines India, Indian Airlines

Go Air has tied up with Jammu & Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation to develop tourism in Jammu & Kashmir. The Mumbai based airline is looking at the potential tourist market of western India and wants to develop Jammu & Kashmir a hot tourist destination for its passengers. Recently Go Air had tied up with Goa Tourism Development Corporation to develop tourism in Goa, and it is in talks with tourism authorities of other states also.

J&KTDC has launched special packages to promote the common objective of the tie up. The packages are economically designed for the potential tourists. The winter packages include honeymoon packages for home market and skiing packages for domestic and foreign travelers. Most of the new private airlines are striking tieups and agreements with tourism authorities, hotels, international airlines, etc. to attract maximum passengers.

Air Deccan has announced that it will sell one lac tickets for Rs. 9 for travels on all sectors of the airline till 25th March 2006. Air Deccan has made this offer on celebrations of Suvarna Utsava of Karnataka. The state has completed 50 years of its formation. The airline has also announced the launch of its new route from Bangalore to Hampi scheduled to commence from 15th November 2006. The bookings can be made at the website of airdeccan. However this fare is exclusive of all taxes.

The discounted tickets are expected to exhaust soon considering the heavy discounts offered by the airline, so in case you are scheduling a trip before 25th March 2006, book your flights now, Rs. 9 tickets will not be available for long.

Air Deccan is known for its low priced tickets, but the prices have recently been challenged by new entrants like Spicejet and Goair. These kind of discounts would attract the passengers back to Air Deccan.

Air India has relaxed the security measures that had angered passengers from Bahrain. The ban on liquids and duty free purchases, however, will continue. Passengers will now be allowed to carry laptops, cameras and mobile phones on board aircraft as cabin baggage, an airline official said.

Travel documents, cash, jewellery, medicines (accompanied by doctors’ prescriptions), other documents (school certificates and medical certificates among others) and infant food (only if an infant is travelling) are allowed on board.

On August 20, Air India banned all liquids and gels from cabin baggage and the ban was extended to cover all sorts of hand baggage, including duty free items, on August 28.

It was nothing more than uniquely packaged tools, but it was enough to cause a jet en route from Toronto to England to turn around mid-air.

An Air India plane was rerouted back to Toronto’s Pearson International Airport Monday night after a passenger found a suspicious package in the plane’s bathroom.

Peel Regional Police have confirmed the package found on board flight 188 was a false alarm.

‘’We are literally picking up the pieces that are left after the package was blown up,'’ said Const. Pete Brandwood, Peel Regional Police. ‘’We are trying to determine its contents, but it is safe to say that the package found was not a bomb.'’

The flight bound for India was somewhere over Montreal when the package was discovered by a passenger.

The captain reported the finding to Navigation Canada, who advised him to turn around and return to Pearson.

City News in Toronto reported one passenger off the flight as saying: ‘’I think the nervousness started when they wouldn’t let us go into the bathrooms at first and then a few minutes later when they did it was one at a time,'’ the woman recalled. ‘’When each person came out, security went in.'’

Police were on stand by when the plane arrive at 11:45 p.m on Monday. The 146 adults, 3 children, and 11 crew members on board were de-planed and directed to a secure location. The plane was taken to an isolated terminal at the end of the tarmac, and the package was detonated.

‘’Our explosive bomb unit, and our canine unit retrieved the bomb, examined it remotely by the way of an x-ray,'’ said Brandwood. ‘’The way today’s climate is with air travel, there is heightened awareness for passenger security.'’

Police searched the plane, and its contents.

How the package made it’s way onto the plane is currently under investigation.

Air India is responsible for sweeping its planes as a measure of safety before passengers board.

The spokesperson for the airline did not return calls made on Tuesday by the National Post.

Police did say the individual who notified the crew of the package is being questioned as a witness. The other passengers have not been question individually, but their baggage, and personal information was re-screened.

Worried family members of the passengers on board the flight gathered at the Toronto airport Monday to wait for word about the safety of their loved ones.

Sunny D’Melo’s parents were on the Air India flight, and told City News he’s glad they are safe.

‘’My parents are in their late 70s, they are not in good health but the right call was made and it’s 160 lives you could have lost,'’ he said.

Media spokesman for the Greater Toronto Airport Authority Scott Armstrong confirmed all passengers who were on board Air India Flight 188 were given hotel vouchers while they were grounded in Toronto.

‘’I'm not sure if, or how the package could have been missed, but the plane was turned around as a safety pre caution.'’

No other flights have been delayed and there were no reported injuries.

In June 1985, a bomb exploded on an Air India flight travelling from Toronto to London. All 329 people on board were killed.

Air India flight 188 re-scheduled its flights out of Pearson International Airport 7 p.m. Tuesday night night.

The civil aviation ministry is likely to move a Cabinet note on the proposed merger of public sector carriers Air-India and Indian Airlines in November after it receives a report from consultancy firm Accenture.
“There are no impediments in the process. Everything is going on as planned,” civil aviation minister Praful Patel said.

He said the consultancy firm, appointed to prepare a roadmap for the merger of the two carriers, would submit its report by October.

“We hope the Cabinet note on the matter should be ready in November after we receive this report,” Patel said in response to questions, adding that the proposed merger process was moving on track and would be completed as planned within the current financial year.

Official sources said there were some key areas like human resources, operations and infrastructure, which needed to be looked into in greater detail, before the proposal could be finalised. A decision on the future of their subsidiaries, Alliance Air and Air-India Express, would also have to be taken, the sources said.

The merger of Air-India and Indian Airlines will create a mega carrier with about 130 aircraft.