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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: Air India is cutting domestic and international capacity this summer, flying up to 5% fewer flights on domestic routes and nearly 40% less on international corridors compared with a year ago, as a depleted fleet, surging jet fuel costs, and war-related airspace closures squeeze the Tata Group carrier.The airline and its low-cost subsidiary Air India Express together offered roughly 9.24 million domestic seats in April and May, down from 9.71 million a year ago, even as India's largest carrier, IndiGo, expanded domestic capacity 6% to 23.04 million seats and newcomer Akasa Air grew 9% to 1.63 million seats, according to data from aviation analytics firm OAG reviewed by Mint. Seats are a measure of capacity for airlines.The move reflects pressures that analysts say have pushed Air India's network strategy into what one expert calls ‘survival mode’.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Mumbai/Bengaluru: A ₹6,700-crore windfall from the listing of Tata Capital last October will help Tata Sons offset an over 10% decline in dividend income from its listed companies, helping the holding company end FY26 with its overall revenue higher than the previous year. The one-off boost comes as Noel Tata, chairman of Tata Trusts, the majority shareholder in Tata Sons, raised concern over mounting losses in newer businesses that continue to consume significant funding.Tata Trusts, worried over ballooning losses, has sought clarity on Tata Sons chairman N.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Well, the first days are the hardest daysDon’t you worry anymore‘Cause when life looks like Easy StreetThere is danger at your door —Uncle John’s Band by Grateful DeadPrime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent austerity appeal is like an official acknowledgement that trouble is brewing in India’s economy. His exhortations seemed like a signal to all stakeholders that the time has come to talk about the Iran war’s direct and indirect effects.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.When Gil Hanse set out to renovate Aronimink Golf Club outside Philadelphia he made it his mission to restore it to its original, legendary designs from the 1920s. The decades had altered the course’s identity with everything from new trees to renovated bunkers. But Hanse was determined to understand what Aronimink really looked like a century ago.As Hanse sifted through archives, he soon made a surprising discovery: rare aerial photographs of Aronimink’s early days that diverged from old drawings of the grounds.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Mumbai/New Delhi: Air India posted an estimated loss of nearly $3 billion in FY26, as foreign exchange losses, airspace disruptions and elevated fuel costs battered the Tata Group-owned airline during the year.The losses were large enough to significantly erode the dividend income parent Tata Sons earned from its cash cow Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in the previous fiscal year.According to the full-year earnings released by Singapore Airlines (SIA) on Thursday, the carrier’s share of losses from Air India were at Singapore $945.2 million (US$742.4 million) in FY26, reflecting its 25.1% stake in the Tata Group-owned airline.With currency conversions factoring in Thursday's exchange rates, as per this shareholding, Air India Group’s total loss for the year is estimated at S$3.76 billion ($2.97 billion), or roughly ₹28,400 crore, at current exchange rates.To be sure, Tata Sons and employees own 74.9% of Air India, and hence its share of the losses would be about ₹21,270 crore, while the remaining 25.1% is being recognized by SIA.Tata Sons received about ₹28,292 crore in dividend income from TCS in FY26, down 12.1% from ₹32,184 crore in FY25, according to a Mint report published on 12 April.Tata Sons is expected to share its financial performance in July, while privately-held Air India will file its earnings with the ministry of corporate affairs in August.The estimated loss, which includes both full-service carrier Air India and low-cost subsidiary Air India Express, is almost three times the ₹10,859 crore loss reported in FY25, largely due to foreign exchange losses—as aircraft leases, fuel and maintenance expenses are denominated in US dollars—along with the financial impact of the

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: India’s smaller airlines are bearing the brunt of the West Asia conflict, with Air India Express, Akasa Air and SpiceJet reducing international departures by nearly 60% in April and so far in May, even as larger carriers IndiGo and Air India cut overseas departures by about 21% during the same period.SpiceJet’s international departures fell 59% to 305 during April and May, while Akasa Air’s dropped 57% to 136 and Air India Express recorded a 56% decline to 1,818 departures, according to data compiled by UK-based aviation analytics firm OAG and reviewed by Mint.In contrast, IndiGo and Air India saw comparatively smaller reductions of 21%, with departures falling to 6,574 and 4,059, respectively.Taken together, international departures from India’s five largest airlines are down 30% in April and May to 12,892, with seat counts also down an identical 30% to 2.6 million, OAG data showed.The sharpest reductions have been on West Asia routes — among the most lucrative overseas markets for Indian low-cost carriers. Air India Express had the highest exposure to the region in terms of daily departures from India, followed by SpiceJet and Akasa Air.“Smaller airlines operate narrow-body planes on short-haul international routes, with Middle East (West Asia) destinations being the most lucrative.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Bengaluru and Mumbai: A 37-year-old transfer of shares of Tata Sons from a trust to the late Naval Tata—later inherited by his sons, Tata Trusts chair Noel Tata, the late Ratan Tata and his brother Jimmy Tata—has surfaced as an issue for the philanthropic entities that control the group.On Tuesday, Sunil Tulsiram Patilkhede, through his lawyer, Katyayani Agrawal, sent a legal notice to the six trustees of Sir Ratan Tata Trust, or SRTT, which owns 23.56% of Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group.This is the third such legal notice against SRTT in the last month. First, lawyer Agrawal had complained to the Maharashtra Charity Commissioner that three among its six trustees—Noel Tata, Pune philanthropist Jehangir HC Jehnagir, and Jimmy Tata—were permanent trustees.This, she alleged, violated rules that capped the number of lifetime trustees at a fourth of the total number of trustees.Last week, Suresh Patilkhede, a Mumbai resident, had sought an adjournment of a Tata Trust meeting before the Bombay High Court.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata has opposed the reappointment of vice-chairmen Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh at Tata Education and Development Trust (TEDT), deepening divisions within the philanthropic entities that control the group.With the latest development, at least one expert predicted that the schisms at the controlling trusts, which own nearly two-thirds of Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group, show no signs of ending. Most decisions of the trusts require unanimous endorsement of the trustees.TEDT now has three trustees left: Noel, Mehli Mistry, a confidante of the late Ratan Tata, and Jehangir Nariman Mistry, a lawyer with Mulla & Mulla and Craigie Blunt & Caroe.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: Aerospace and defence major Rolls-Royce Plc is borrowing from the India playbook of British energy giant BP Plc as it pursues billions of dollars worth of opportunities across defence, civil aviation and nuclear energy in the country.To lead that push, Rolls-Royce has turned to Sashi Mukundan, the former head of BP’s India business, who spent 24 years building the energy company’s partnerships in the country across gas, fuel retail and mobility ventures.The man who recruited him: Rolls-Royce chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic, who himself spent two decades at BP, including five years leading its downstream business.“Tufan was also with BP before. He’s seen how BP built the relationship in India,” Mukundan, now executive vice president Transformation India at Rolls-Royce, told Mint.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.IndiGo and Air India have opposed proposed passenger charges by India’s newest airports, warning that higher tariffs would make flying more expensive and slow passenger traffic growth when domestic aviation demand is weakening.Adani-owned Navi Mumbai International Airport Ltd (NMIAL), which started operations in December, currently levies a user development fee (UDF) of ₹620 on domestic departures and ₹270 on arrivals. It has proposed increasing this by 20% in FY28 and 10% annually until FY31 for a net increase of 45% over five years.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Air India has pushed the start of its maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru by at least a year to January–March 2027, as construction remains unfinished, according to three people familiar with the matter.The airline’s inability to source construction materials including steel and bolts from domestic manufacturers is the key reason for the delay.Planned on a 35-acre site, the facility, designed with 12 hangar bays to service both narrow-body and wide-body aircraft, is still under construction, one of the persons quoted said, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.In its first phase it will have 3 widebody and 2 narrowbody hangar bays. Hangars are spaces where aircrafts are parked, maintained, and repaired.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.SpiceJet Ltd’s operational fleet has shrunk from 33 aircraft at the end of December to about 21 in early May, bringing the airline close to the minimum threshold required to operate international flights under Indian aviation rules. Fleet count fell due to returns to lessors and grounding for maintenance.The slide in SpiceJet's fleet comes as the airline has also lost ground in the domestic market, slipping to fourth place with a 3.9% share in March.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Split pricing has its benefits. If something is sold to price-insensitive customers at a steep mark-up, then overall utility can be maximized if the extra charge allows price reduction for others. This idea works best when consumption is easily divided.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s pilots have urged the aviation regulator to fully enforce flight duty time limitations (FDTL), warning that relaxations could compromise safety and crew wellbeing. In a 1 May letter, reviewed by Mint, the pilots' association cited recent pilot deaths and flagged rising fatigue risks, seeking a time-bound roadmap to end selective exemptions that, it said, have diluted the intent of the rules.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s international air travel fell to a four-year low in March as the West Asia conflict disrupted key routes, with Air India Express emerging as the worst-hit among local carriers.The low-cost carrier of Air India, which has a heavy exposure to the region, recorded the steepest decline. Its departures plunged 68% to 1,263 in March from 3,928 a year ago.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Travellers will have to wait a while longer to fly overseas from Navi Mumbai International Airport as the Adani Group-owned facility has postponed the start of its international operations due to the ongoing war in West Asia, a senior executive familiar with the development told Mint on the on the sidelines of the Airport360 Expo in Mumbai.International flights were originally meant to commence at the airport from 29 March, in line with the start of the 2026 summer flight schedule in India. However, the Iran conflict has forced a rethink, causing the launch to be pushed further into the season, said the executive, who requested anonymity to discuss business plans."It is difficult to specify an exact start date at this point, but we expect international departures to commence once the Gulf situation stabilizes,” the executive added.Airlines had lined up nearly 20 daily international departures from the airport for the summer schedule, reflecting strong anticipated demand for overseas travel, particularly to Gulf destinations that are key routes for Indian carriers, the executive said.However, Indian airlines have limited or no flights to the Middle East since the start of the Iran war, which has also led to higher fuel prices and longer flying hours for airlines.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Akasa Air, India’s third largest airline, is tapping into the month-long demand for Hajj travel to deploy its aircraft capacity left underutilized after services to parts of West Asia were scaled back due to the ongoing war in the region, according to a person aware of the development.Approximately five to six airplanes were used on the West Asia route, which are now being used majorly for Hajj travel," said the person quoted above, requesting anonymity as this plan is part of business strategy.Flights to and from Doha, Riyadh and Kuwait have been suspended until 30 April, according to the airline’s 21 April post on X. While it continues to operate flights to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia—the main gateway for pilgrims going to Mecca—from Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kochi and Kozhikode, Akasa is evaluating resumption of flights to Abu Dhabi, the post said.Akasa Air did not respond to Mint’s queries on aircraft utilization, Hajj travel and the impact of the West Asia crisis.The airline has inducted eight new aircraft in 2026, taking the fleet size to 38.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: Three weeks after its official inauguration, the Noida International Airport faces fresh uncertainty over the start of commercial flights, as a key security clearance for its chief executive is still pending. The nod from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS)—essential before operations can begin—has yet to come through, raising the possibility of a delay to the airport’s planned mid-May launch.The Noida International Airport at Jewar in Uttar Pradesh, 100 km off Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 28 March 2026.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Tata Trusts on Sunday said it plans to amend restrictive clauses that currently limit eligibility for trustee positions at an affiliate trust to Zoroastrians, even as it affirmed confidence in chief executive officer (CEO) Siddharth Sharma. This follows public questions raised by vice chairmen Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh, after Sharma asked them if they would consider stepping down as trustees at the affiliate trust.“In order to correct anomalies in the trust deed and to align it with the values that the Tata Trusts have always epitomised, the trustees have decided to adopt proceedings before the appropriate authority for alteration of restrictive clauses in respect of eligibility of trustees.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Mehli Mistry, a close associate of late tycoon Ratan Tata, has challenged his ouster from Sir Dorabji Tata Trusts (SDTT), the largest among Tata Trusts, and requested the appointment of an administrator to run the philanthropic entities behind the sprawling Tata Group of companies.In an affidavit filed before the Maharashtra charity commissioner on Wednesday, Mistry challenged the votes cast by Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh that led to his ouster in October; questioned Tata Trusts chair Noel Tata's objection to reappointing N. Chandrasekaran as chair of Tata Sons; and highlighted what he claims is a procedural flaw in the appointment of Noel as the Trusts chair.On 24 February, the Tata Sons board deferred a decision on reappointing Chandrasekaran, after Noel sought a roadmap to revive loss-making Tata businesses.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Bengaluru/Mumbai: Tata Trusts is expected to discuss several vexing issues, including whether to retaining Tata Sons as a private company and the possibility of giving a third full term to chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran, when the Trustees of the philanthropic entities meet in the second week of May, about four months after its last meeting in January, according to two Tata Group executives who did not wish to be named.The agenda for the meeting has not yet been finalised or shared with trustees, the two executives said, and the meeting could be convened on 8 or 12 May, depending on the availability of all trustees.Whether Chandrasekaran's third term will be discussed depends on Tata Sons' response to the questions that Tata Trusts chair Noel Tata raised at the Tata Sons board meeting on 24 February, one executive said. At that meeting, Noel Tata had raised questions about Tata Sons' strategic direction, prompting the board to defer a decision on Chandrasekaran's re-appointment for a third five-year term, set to begin in February 2027.Noel Tata, who took over as the chair of Tata Trusts on 11 October 2024, had raised three questions at the board meeting in February.