In an important management change at Air India, the airline announced that an old-hand from Singapore Airlines, Basil Kwauk, will replace Klaus Goersch as the Chief Operations Officer.

In an internal announcement, Air India’s MD & CEO Campbell Wilson informed that Mr. Goersch would be leaving Air India at the end of December “to take up a senior role closer to his family in the United States”. He was appointed for the role in October 23.

Mr. Kwauk has 25 years of experience at Singapore Airlines. He was sent to Vistara on secondment where he was senior vice-president (flight operations) from 2017 and 2021 before he returned to Singapore from New Delhi.

Mr. Kwauk has flown a multitude of aircraft ranging from A319s to A340s and Boeing 787s, 777s and 747s. He holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from National University Singapore.

The development follows the merger of Vistara, which Singapore Airlines co-owned with Tata Sons, with Air India. Singapore Airlines now has 25.1% control in the Air India Group.

Mr. Kwauk is credited for steering Vistara operations through the pandemic. During his tenure, the airline also acquired 9 Boeing 787-9s from erstwhile Jet Airways as well as recruited requisite crew for flight operations when Vistara was an all Airbus fleet with only 22 planes. The airline also inducted Boeing 787 Dreamliners into the fleet from 2020 onwards and started its foray into international destinations during his time.

Though Mr. Goersch has been described as an “absentee COO” who often worked remotely from the U.S., many of those who have worked with Mr. Kwauk during his stint at Vistara called him a “great choice” for the role. Erstwhile Vistara crew described him as a “people’s person” who often interacted with ground staff to resolve their concerns and devising SOPs friendly for crew and passengers.

Industry watchers said that his appointment was a signal of Air India ensuring that some of the best practices that Vistara came to be known for was also brought into the merged entity, apart from Singapore Airlines getting a share of the pie in the management of the airline.

Singapore:

A 73-year-old Indian national was charged in a Singapore court on Monday for allegedly molesting four women while on board a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight from the United States to Singapore.

Balasubramanian Ramesh is accused of molesting one of the women four times and is said to have targeted the three others once each on the flight on November 18.

He was handed seven molestation charges in a district court on Monday, The Straits Times reported.

Court documents do not disclose if the women were the carrier’s passengers or crew, and they cannot be named due to a gag order to protect their identities.

Balasubramanian is accused of molesting the first woman at around 3:15 am and the second woman about five minutes later during the flight. He allegedly molested the second woman three more times between 3:30 am and 6 am.

He is also said to have outraged the modesty of a third woman at around 9:30 am and allegedly molested the fourth woman at around 5:30 pm.

He is expected to plead guilty on December 13, according to the Singapore daily.

For each count of molestation, an offender can be jailed for up to three years, fined or caned, or receive any combination of such punishments.

However, Balasubramanian cannot be caned as he is over 50 years old.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

An Air Vistara flight landing at Thiruvananthapuram Airport on November 11, 2023. Air India on November 12, 2024 said the merger of full service carrier Vistara with itself has been completed.
| Photo Credit: The HIndu

Marking a major consolidating in the Indian aviation space, Air India on Tuesday (November 12, 2024) said the merger of full service carrier Vistara with itself has been completed and the integrated entity will be operating over 5,600 weekly flights connecting more than 90 destinations.

With the merger, Singapore Airlines will have a 25.1% stake in the enlarged Air India.

“Air India Group has completed the operational integration and legal merger between Air India and Vistara, creating a full-service carrier of scale and marking a significant milestone in the post-privatisation transformation journey. This follows the merger of the Group’s low-cost airlines Air India Express and AIX Connect (formerly Air Asia India) on 1 October 2024,” a statement said.

Vistara was a joint venture between Tatas and Singapore Airlines.

Air India Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Campbell Wilson said the merger completes the consolidation and restructuring phase of the Air India Group’s post-privatisation transformation journey, and is thus a significant milestone.

“Over the past two years, teams across the four airlines have worked closely together and with other stakeholders to ensure that the transition of people, assets, operations and, most importantly, customers, was as seamless as possible,” he said.

Tata Group acquired loss-making Air India from the government in January 2022.

IndiGo on Monday bid a heartfelt farewell to rival Vistara as the airline took its final flight before merging with Air India. In a symbolic gesture, IndiGo acknowledged Vistara as an “unforgettable legacy” on social media, emphasising respect despite their past rivalry. As a result of this merger, Air India is set to become a formidable competitor to IndiGo, the budget carrier currently dominating the Indian market.

”As an unforgettable legacy takes its final flight, a new journey on the horizon awaits. Goodbye, @airvistara. Here’s #ToLimitlessPossibilities ahead,” IndiGo wrote on X, along with a video of its final flight.

See the tweet here:

As an unforgettable legacy takes its final flight, a new journey on the horizon awaits. Goodbye, @airvistara. Here’s #ToLimitlessPossibilities ahead. #goIndiGo

Video credits @UtkarshThakkarpic.twitter.com/QAOlNzX5xm

— IndiGo (@IndiGo6E) November 11, 2024

The official X handle of Vistara Airlines reacted to the tweet and responded by saying, ”Onward and upward!  Here’s to the future and all the exciting possibilities it holds!”

Several passengers and aviation enthusiasts also reminisced about Vistara’s premium service and significant contributions to Indian aviation. Many shared their favourite memories with the airline and recalled how it felt travelling on its fleet. 

Vistara was launched in 2015 as a joint venture between Tata Sons (51%) and Singapore Airlines (49%). This strategic partnership was made possible by the Indian government’s decision, under the UPA administration, to allow foreign airlines to acquire up to 49% stake in domestic airlines.

The merger of Vistara with Air India, part of Tata Group’s strategy to streamline its aviation assets, marks the end of Vistara’s journey, established in partnership with Singapore Airlines.  Going forward, Vistara’s routes and fleet will be incorporated into the Air India brand, with Singapore Airlines holding a 25.1% stake in the merged entity, India’s largest international carrier.​

Vistara was merged with Air India on Monday night, and from Tuesday onwards, the Vistara flight code will change from ‘UK’ to ‘AI2XXX’. The in-flight experience on Vistara’s fleet will remain unchanged, but customers will now have access to Air India’s expanded network and services.

With this merger, the number of full-service carriers has dropped to one from five in the past 17 years. Over the past years, airlines such as Kingfisher, Air Sahara, rebranded as JetLite and Jet Airways have been grounded due to financial trouble and various other reasons.

 

The merger of Vistara with Air India will mark a major consolidation in the fast-growing Indian aviation space. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Singapore Airlines will make an additional investment of ₹3,194.5 crore in Tata Group-owned Air India post-merger of Vistara in November.

The merger, announced on November 29, 2022, and set to be completed on November 11, 2024, will result in Singapore Airlines having a 25.1% stake in the enlarged Air India.

Also read | Air India-Vistara merger: Assessment complete; systems integration in progress, says official

Full-service carrier Vistara, which started flying on January 9, 2015, is a joint venture between Tatas and Singapore Airlines, where the latter holds a 49% shareholding.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) Group on Friday said its consideration for the merger comprises the 49% interest in Vistara and ₹20,585 million (₹2,058.5 crore) in cash in exchange for a 25.1% equity interest in the enlarged Air India.

Post-merger, SIA expects to recognise a non-cash accounting gain of around 1.1 billion Singapore dollars and also start equity accounting for its share of Air India’s financial results.

According to a release on Friday, the merger includes an agreement for SIA to contribute its share of any funding previously provided by Tata prior to the completion of the merger, together with relevant funding costs up to ₹5,020 crore that would allow it to maintain 25.1% stake in Air India.

“SIA’s additional capital injection is expected to be Rs 31,945 million (equivalent to SGD 498 million), based on Tata’s funding to Air India to date. This will occur after the completion of the merger and within November 2024 through subscription to new Air India shares.

“Future capital injections will be considered based on Air India’s requirements and available funding options,” according to the release issued while announcing the airline’s financial performance for the six months ended September 2024.

The merger of Vistara with Air India will mark a major consolidation in the fast-growing Indian aviation space.

SIA said the merged entity will have a significant presence across all key Indian air travel segments, including domestic, international, full-service, and low-cost operations.

“This will strengthen SIA’s multi-hub strategy, allowing it to continue participating directly in India’s large and fast-growing aviation market,” it added.

Recently, Air India and SIA recently agreed to significantly expand their codeshare agreement, adding 11 Indian cities and another 40 international destinations to their network.

Vistara Airbus A320 passenger aircraft. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

On Wednesday (October 2, 2024), Air India said flights operated with Vistara aircraft will have numbers starting with the prefix ‘AI2’ after the merger next month while Vistara’s planes, crew and service will continue to operate as before.

The Tata Group-owned full-service carrier also emphasised that the Vistara experience will remain post-merger.

The merger of Vistara – a joint venture between Tatas and Singapore Airlines – with Air India is scheduled for November 12 which will mark a major consolidation in the Indian aviation space after the integration of AIX Connect with Air India Express.

There are concerns in certain quarters on whether Vistara passengers will continue to get the same services as now post-merger as Air India, which is in the transformation phase, has recently faced certain service issues.

An Air India spokesperson on Wednesday (October 2, 2024) said the teams of Air India and Vistara have been working hard for over a year to ensure that the merger of the legal and regulated entities is seamless for both customers and staff.

“Though the legal entities and Air Operator Certificates will become one on 12 November, the Vistara experience will remain.

“Vistara aircraft, crew and service will continue to operate as before, but with AI2XXX flight numbers bookable via airindia.com,” the spokesperson said in a statement to PTI.

Air India’s airline code is ‘AI’ and that of Vistara is ‘UK’. The latter will fly into the sunset after the merger.

Among other elements, Vistara’s catering is being extended to Air India.

According to the Air India spokesperson, its narrow-body fleet continues to be upgraded with new aircraft being delivered and legacy aircraft being refitted with entirely new interiors.

The Air India-Vistara merger, announced in November 2022, will also see Singapore Airlines acquiring a 25.1% stake in the merged entity.

Singapore Airlines on Friday (August 30, 2024) said it has received approval from the Indian government for the foreign direct investment as part of the proposed merger of Vistara with Air India, a deal that will create one of the world’s largest airline groups.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Singapore Airlines on Friday (August 30, 2024) said it has received approval from the Indian government for the foreign direct investment (FDI) as part of the proposed merger of Vistara with Air India, a deal that will create one of the world’s largest airline groups.

With the clearance in place, the merger that will see Singapore Airlines acquiring a 25.1% stake in Air India, is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

The proposed merger was announced in November 2022.

Air India is owned by Tata Group and Vistara is a 51:49 joint venture between Tatas and Singapore Airlines.

In a regulatory filing on Friday (August 30, 2024), Singapore Airlines (SIA) said it has received approval from the Government of India for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the enlarged Air India as part of the proposed merger.

“The FDI approval, together with anti-trust and merger control clearances and approvals, as well as other governmental and regulatory approvals received to-date, represent a significant development towards the completion of the proposed merger,” the airline said in the filing to the Singapore Stock Exchange.

The airline also said the completion of the merger continues to be subject to compliance by the parties with applicable Indian laws, which is currently expected to be completed in the next few months.

“At this juncture, completion of the proposed merger is anticipated to occur by the end of 2024,” it added.

According to Singapore Airlines, the parties are in discussions to extend the long stop date for the completion of the merger. Earlier, it was expected to be October 31, 2024.

The merger, which will create one of the biggest airline groups, was approved by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in June.

In March, Singapore’s competition regulator CCCS gave a conditional nod for the proposed deal.

Prior to that in September 2023, the deal received approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI), subject to certain conditions.

“SIA will make the necessary announcement(s) upon completion of the proposed merger or in the event that there are other significant developments,” the filing said on Friday (August 30, 2024).

Tokyo:

A report of white smoke coming from a landing Singapore Airlines plane forced a runway at Japan’s Narita Airport to close temporarily on Monday, officials said, though responders found no signs of fire and no one was injured.

The smoke prompted six fire engines and two ambulances to rush to the scene, and Narita’s runway B was closed from around 7:40 am (2240 GMT), shortly after the flight landed at the gateway to Tokyo, airport and fire officials said.

“We received a report of white smoke rising from the left engine,” a Narita city fire official told AFP.

But there was no sign of fire and no one was injured, she said, adding that firefighters left the scene after observing the plane for over an hour.

The plane was carrying 276 passengers and crew members, local media said.

The flight reported the smoke to the airport after landing, an airport official told AFP.

“It communicated that there was a possibility that it experienced a problem when it landed,” a spokesman at Narita International Airport told AFP.

Pieces of tyre were found on the runway, the spokesman said, adding there was no further information to offer about the incident. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The Sibu Airport is expected to witness an increase of a maximum of 300 passengers per week with the start of Scoot’s new service.
| Photo Credit: Adithya Narayan

Scoot, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, will be offering non-stop services from Singapore to Malaysia’s Sibu starting with the inaugural flight that took off on June 5. With three weekly flights to the city on Borneo Island, the budget carrier plans to serve visitors from the Asian financial hub, who form the third biggest group of tourists to the city.

Borneo is the third largest island in the world after Greenland and New Guinea. It comprises the tiny nation of Brunei along with Indonesia’s Kalimantan State, and Malaysia’s Sabah and Sarawak States. Sibu and Miri, which belong to Sarawak, and Kuantan, part of peninsular Malaysia, are served by Scoot’s Embraer E-190 E2 aircraft from Singapore.

In the process, the Embraer E2 will play second fiddle to Scoot’s fleet of Boeing 787s and Airbus 320s, flying to non-metro secondary cities that also include the likes of Hat Yai, Krabi and Koh Samui in Thailand. The addition of the 112-seater aircraft to the fleet is part of Scoot’s plan to increase regional connectivity.

The airline plans to capitalise on Singapore’s proximity to Borneo, which can improve accessibility to cities on the island. The company is also counting on the new air route to bolster its operations at the Singapore hub.

For Sarawak, it is an opportunity to showcase its culture. Malaysia’s biggest State‘s demography is a mix of 34 ethnic tribes such as the Ibans and the Malay population. In comparison, Sibu has a strong Fuzhou presence — the people who migrated from Fuzhou in China. This eclectic mix can work in favour of Sibu and Sarawak for it offers visitors a glimpse of multiple cultures on a single trip.

The Sibu airport currently handles over 2,000 passengers a day. Officials at the Sarawak Trade and Tourism Office Singapore (STATOS) believe this number can go up by a maximum of 300 passengers per week with the start of Scoot’s services. They believe Sibu’s relatively lesser-known stature also works in its favour as it makes the city more affordable and exciting compared to other popular destinations in Southeast Asia.

Going forward, Scoot is observing and monitoring the number and type of visitors travelling to and from Sibu to adjust flight frequencies to better match supply to demand.

The writer was in Sibu at the invitation of Scoot

The interior of Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 is pictured after an emergency landing at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport, in Bangkok, Thailand on May 21, 2024 in this handout image.
| Photo Credit: Handout via Reuters

Rapid changes in the gravitational force led to a 178-feet (54-meter) altitude drop of a Singapore Airlines flight that left one passenger dead and many others who were not buckled up injured in extreme turbulence last week, a preliminary investigation by Singapore’s Transport Ministry said on May 29.

A 73-year-old British man died of a suspected heart attack and dozens were injured after the Boeing 777, which was flying from London’s Heathrow airport to Singapore on May 21, ran into turbulence that hurled people and items around the cabin. The plane, with 211 passengers and 18 crew members, made an emergency landing in Bangkok.

Also read: Why was Singapore flight turbulence severe? | Explained

Singapore’s Transport Ministry said investigators, including those from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing, had compiled a chronology of events based on the preliminary analysis of the flight’s data and cockpit voice recorders.

Early findings showed the aircraft was passing over the south of Myanmar at 37,000 feet (11,277 meters) feet when it began to experience vibration due to changes in the gravitational force, the Ministry said. The plane then climbed to an altitude of up to 37,362 feet (11,387 meters) and increased speed possibly due to an updraft, it said. The plane’s autopilot then sought to pitch the jet downwards to its earlier altitude.

“The aircraft experienced a rapid change in G (gravitational force) … this likely resulted in the occupants who were not belted up to become airborne” before falling back down later as the plane rose and fell, the ministry said. “The rapid changes in G over the 4.6 second duration resulted in an altitude drop of 178 feet … this sequence of events likely caused the injuries to the crew and passengers.”

During the turbulence, it said a pilot was heard calling out saying the fasten seat belt sign had been switched on. It said recorded data indicated the pilots manually controlled the plane for 21 seconds to stabilize it before reengaging the autopilot.

The plane made a normal, controlled descent and didn’t encounter further turbulence until it landed in Bangkok almost an hour later, the ministry said, adding that investigations are ongoing.

Passengers have described the “sheer terror” of the aircraft shuddering, loose items flying and injured people lying paralyzed on the floor of the plane.

Twenty-six people remained hospitalized in Bangkok on Wednesday. Hospital authorities earlier said injuries included spinal or spinal cord damage, skull or brain injuries and damage to bones or internal organs.

It was unclear what caused the turbulence. Most people associate turbulence with heavy storms, but the most dangerous type is so-called clear air turbulence. Wind shear can occur in wispy cirrus clouds or even in clear air near thunderstorms, as differences in temperature and pressure create powerful currents of fast-moving air.

According to a 2021 report by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, turbulence accounted for 37.6% of all accidents on larger commercial airlines between 2009 and 2018. The Federal Aviation Administration has said there were 146 serious injuries from turbulence from 2009 to 2021.