Latest news with #SouthernIndia
Washington Post
12-06-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Before crash, Air India spent years attempting a turnaround after emerging from government control
The deadly crash of an Air India flight carrying more than 240 people on Thursday arrives after years of efforts to turn around the country's flag carrier — which had been plagued by tragedy and financial losses under prior state ownership . In 2010, an Air India flight arriving from Dubai overshot the runway in the city of Mangalore and plunged over a cliff, killing 158 people out of the 166 on board. And in 2020, a flight for Air India Express, a subsidiary of Air India, skidded off a runway in Southern India during heavy rain and cracked in two — killing 18 people and injuring more than 120 others.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Before crash, Air India spent years attempting a turnaround after emerging from government control
The deadly crash of an Air India flight carrying more than 240 people on Thursday arrives after years of efforts to turn around the country's flag carrier — which had been plagued by tragedy and financial losses under prior state ownership. In 2010, an Air India flight arriving from Dubai overshot the runway in the city of Mangalore and plunged over a cliff, killing 158 people out of the 166 on board. And in 2020, a flight for Air India Express, a subsidiary of Air India, skidded off a runway in Southern India during heavy rain and cracked in two — killing 18 people and injuring more than 120 others. Both of those incidents involved older Boeing 737-800 aircrafts — and occurred while Air India was still under governmental control. Indian conglomerate Tata Sons took over Air India in 2022, returning the carrier to private ownership after it was run by the state for decades. The 180 billion rupee (then worth $2.4 billion) deal was in some ways a homecoming for Air India, with roots that date back to the Tata family's founding of what was then-called Tata Airlines in 1932. It was also part of an wider effort to save the airline — which had become a money-losing, debt-saddled operation. Jitendra Bhargava, former executive director of the airline and author of 'The Descent of Air India,' said government ownership fostered an archaic work culture, outdated processes, and management by bureaucrats unfamiliar with the aviation industry. 'You are getting a recipe for disaster. And we went through it," Bhargava told The Associated Press. As a result, he said, the company hemorrhaged money — which had a 'cascading effect' because it couldn't invest in upgrades. By the time of the Tata Sons takeover, Air India's market share was around 12% and at risk of shrinking as competitors expanded. Bhargava and other aviation experts stress that shedding government control was necessary for Air India to compete with other private rivals — and the carrier has since worked to reinvent itself by modernizing both its operations and fleet. Over recent years, Air India redesigned its branding and ordered hundreds of new planes from both Boeing and Airbus. Analysts don't expect Thursday's crash, which involved a 12-year-old Boeing 787 Dreamliner, to change such partnerships. "Admittedly, Air India and the Tata organization have been very proud about the fact that they've made a major commitment to Boeing," said Anita Mendiratta, an aviation and leadership consultant. While acknowledging that Boeing has been bruised in recent years, largely due to problems with its 737 Max, Mendiratta noted that there's still been a 'hunger' from airlines around the world to add the company's new planes to their fleets after recent delivery delays. That includes demand for the 787 Dreamliner — which, she said, is 'one of the most important aircraft when it comes to sustainable aviation, emissions reduction, managing the costs of aviation.' Boeing has been plagued by its own safety issues, including past deadly crashes. This, however, was the first crash of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, according to the Aviation Safety Network database. And the cause of Thursday's crash is still unclear. An international investigation is underway, and Boeing has said it's 'working to gather more information.' Air India said it's also working to get answers around what caused the crash — while promising to support those impacted by the tragedy. 'This is a difficult day for all of us at Air India,' CEO Campbell Wilson said in recorded remarks. 'Our efforts now are focused entirely on the needs of our passengers, crew members, their families and loved ones.' Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons, added in a statement that 'no words can adequately express the grief we feel at this moment.' He said that the company would provide 10 million rupees (nearly $116,795) to the families of each person "who has lost their life in this tragedy' — and also cover medical expenses of anyone who was injured. The Boeing 787 crashed into a medical college after takeoff in India's northwestern city of Ahmedabad. A single passenger survived the crash, according to a senior Indian official and Air India. But the airline said there were no other survivors — putting the latest death toll at 241. Beyond the fatal accidents in 2010 and 2020, an Air India Boeing 747 flight also crashed into the Arabian Sea in 1978, killing all 213 aboard. The carrier was under government control from 1953 through 2022. Other fatal accidents involving India's state-owned airlines include the more than 50 people who died in a crash in the eastern city of Patna in 2000. In 1993, a flight crashed in the western city Aurangabad, killing 55. In 1988, over 130 died when a plane crashed while landing in Ahmedabad and in 1991, a crash near northeastern city Imphal killed 69 people aboard. __________ Grantham-Philips reported from New York and Ghosal reported from Hanoi. AP Writer Danica Kirka in London contributed to this report. Wyatte Grantham-philips And Aniruddha Ghosal (), The Associated Press Sign in to access your portfolio
The Independent
12-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Before crash, Air India spent years attempting a turnaround after emerging from government control
The deadly crash of an Air India flight carrying more than 240 people on Thursday arrives after years of attempts to turn around the country's flag carrier — which had been plagued by tragedy and financial losses under prior state ownership. In 2010, an Air India flight arriving from Dubai overshot the runway in the city of Mangalore and plunged over a cliff, killing 158 people out of the 166 on board. And in 2020, a flight for Air India Express, a subsidiary of Air India, skidded off a runway in Southern India during heavy rain and cracked in two — killing 18 people and injuring more than 120 others. Both of those incidents involved older Boeing 737-800 aircrafts — and occurred while Air India was still under governmental control. Indian conglomerate Tata Sons took over Air India in 2022, returning the carrier to private ownership after it was run by the state for decades. The 180 billion rupee (then worth $2.4 billion) deal was in some ways a homecoming for Air India, with roots that date back to the Tata family's founding of what was then-called Tata Airlines in 1932. It was also part of an wider effort to save the airline — which had become a money-losing, debt-saddled operation. Jitendra Bhargava, former executive director of the airline and author of 'The Descent of Air India,' said government ownership fostered an archaic work culture, outdated processes, and management by bureaucrats unfamiliar with the aviation industry. 'You are getting a recipe for disaster. And we went through it," Bhargava told The Associated Press. As a result, he said, the company hemorrhaged money — which had a 'cascading effect' because it couldn't invest in upgrades. By the time of the Tata Sons takeover, Air India's market share was around 12% and at risk of shrinking as competitors expanded. Bhargava and other aviation experts stress that shedding government control was necessary for Air India to compete with other private rivals — and the carrier has since worked to reinvent itself by modernizing both its operations and fleet. Over recent years, Air India redesigned its branding and ordered hundreds of new planes from both Boeing and Airbus. Analysts don't expect Thursday's crash, which involved a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, to change such partnerships. "Admittedly, Air India and the Tata organization have been very proud about the fact that they've made a major commitment to Boeing," said Anita Mendiratta, an aviation and leadership consultant. While acknowledging that Boeing has been bruised in recent years, largely due to problems with its 737 Max, Mendiratta noted that there's still been a 'hunger' from airlines around the world to add the company's new planes to their fleets after recent delivery delays. That includes demand for the 787 Dreamliner — which, she said, is 'one of the most important aircraft when it comes to sustainable aviation, emissions reduction, managing the costs of aviation.' Boeing has been plagued by its own safety issues, including past deadly crashes. This, however, was the first crash of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, according to the Aviation Safety Network database. And the cause of Thursday's crash is still unclear. An international investigation is underway, and Boeing has said it's 'working to gather more information.' Air India said it's also working to get answers around what caused the crash — while promising to support those impacted by the tragedy. 'This is a difficult day for all of us at Air India,' CEO Campbell Wilson said in recorded remarks. 'Our efforts now are focused entirely on the needs of our passengers, crew members, their families and loved ones.' Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons, added in a statement that 'no words can adequately express the grief we feel at this moment.' He said that the company would provide 10 million rupees (nearly $116,795) to the families of each person "who has lost their life in this tragedy' — and also cover medical expenses of anyone who was injured. The Boeing 787 crashed into a medical college after takeoff in India's northwestern city of Ahmedabad. A single passenger survived the crash, according to a senior Indian official. But the airline said there were no other survivors. A local official put the latest death toll at 240, including some victims on the ground. Beyond the fatal accidents in 2010 and 2020, an Air India Boeing 747 flight also crashed into the Arabian Sea in 1978, killing all 213 aboard. The carrier was under government control from 1953 through 2022. Other fatal accidents involving India's state-owned airlines include the more than 50 people who died in a crash in the eastern city of Patna in 2000. In 1993, a flight crashed in the western city Aurangabad, killing 55. In 1988, over 130 died when a plane crashed while landing in Ahmedabad and in 1991, a crash near northeastern city Imphal killed 69 people aboard. __________ Grantham-Philips reported from New York and Ghosal reported from Hanoi. AP Writer Danica Kirka in London contributed to this report.
CBC
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Indian author Banu Mushtaq wins International Booker Prize with short story collection
Indian author Banu Mushtaq and translator Deepa Bhasthi won the International Booker Prize for fiction for Heart Lamp, a collection of 12 short stories written over a period of more than 30 years and which chronicle the everyday lives and struggles of women in southern India. The award was announced by bestselling Booker Prize-longlisted author Max Porter in his role as chair of the five-member voting panel, at a ceremony at London's Tate Modern. The annual award celebrates the best works of fiction from around the world that have been translated into English and published in the U.K. or Ireland. The £50,000 (approx. $93,188 Cdn) grand prize is divided equally between writer and translator. There were no Canadians nominated this year. The 2025 CBC Poetry Prize is now open The prize was set up to boost the profile of fiction in other languages — which accounts for only a small share of books published in Britain — and to salute the underappreciated work of literary translators. It is the first time the International Booker Prize has been given to a collection of short stories. Bhasthi is the first Indian translator — and ninth female translator — to win the prize since it took on its current form in 2016. Mushtaq is the sixth female author to be awarded the prize since then. Written in Kannada, which is spoken by around 65 million people, primarily in southern India, Porter praised the "radical" nature of the translation, adding that "it's been a joy" to listen to the evolving appreciation of the stories by members of the jury. "These beautiful, busy, life-affirming stories rise from Kannada, interspersed with the extraordinary socio-political richness of other languages and dialects," said Porter. "It speaks of women's lives, reproductive rights, faith, caste, power and oppression." The book, which beat five other finalists, comprises stories written from 1990 to 2023. They were selected and curated by Bhasthi, who was keen to preserve the multilingual nature of southern India in her translation. Mushtaq, who is a lawyer and activist as well as writer, told a short list reading event on Sunday that the stories "are about women – how religion, society and politics demand unquestioning obedience from them, and in doing so, inflict inhumane cruelty upon them, turning them into mere subordinates." The prize money is to be divided equally between author and translator. Each is presented with a trophy too. Last year's winner was German author Jenny Erpenbeck for Kairos, the story of a tangled love affair during the final years of East Germany's existence, translated by Michael Hofmann.
The Hindu
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
A fond farewell to C. Venkatachalam who built Chennai's Ega theatre
It was in the April 30 edition of this column that I wrote about the song O Bak Bak Bak Bakum Bakum Mada Pura from the 1962 film Annai, speculating on the Madras bungalow where it was shot. I had in that column veered towards A. Nagappa Chettiar's bungalow Uma Bhavanam on Spur Tank Road. But even then, I had my doubts, because the building in the song is clearly colonial, while Nagappa Chettiar's house is Art Deco. I had wondered if the house had been remodelled since the song, but I now stand corrected. However, C. Venkatachalam, the one person who could have reassured me beyond any doubt, died last week and so this column is a tribute to him as well. Mudaliandan's house But firstly, about the song. I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email from Chandrika Badrinath from London, stating that the house where this song was shot was the residence of C. Mudaliandan Chetty on Poonamallee High Road. The RBI quarters in the song cannot be seen from Spur Tank Road, she says. She would know, considering that all her childhood was spent at Ajmer, the residence of her father T.K. Singaram and grandfather T.S. Kachapikesan's on Poonamallee High Road. And, she added most helpfully, she recalls the shooting of the song very well because it created quite a stir, especially among the house help. I realise it is Ajmer that is the neighbouring bungalow seen in the song. The house that Chandrika refers to, known as Manohar, stands behind the Ega/AnuEga theatres on Poonamallee High Road, with Vasu (Naidu) Street separating it from where Ajmer stood. C. Mudaliandan Chetty's is one of the historic Arya Vysya families of Madras, their fortunes made in condiments. The business was begun in 1884 by E(ga) Venkatakistnamah Chetty and by 1917, when Somerset Playne wrote his landmark Southern India, was run by the founder's grandson, Candalagadda Manavala Chetty. Mudaliandan Chetty was the latter's son. The family subsequently branched out into other activities. New Year party Manohar is a residence I knew very well at one time because Mudaliandan Chetty's son, C. Venkatachalam, was a family friend. For years, he hosted a New Year party on his front lawn, before that space was swallowed by a high rise. It was also Venkatachalam who built Ega/Anu Ega in the 1980s on a corner of the family plot. It was where many Hindi films, in particular, celebrated silver jubilees. No matter what the rush of bookings be, 'Uncle Venkat' was just a phone call away to usher you into a box. The same went for darshan at Srirangam. The Ega family ran a guest house there and a bonus was that the caretaker sold some wonderful pickles and masala papads. Among the many Arya Vysya charities Venkatachalam served on was the Sri Kanyaka Parameswari Devasthanam. He was among the visionaries that retrieved the property from the Kotwal Chavadi market and converted it into a women's college. Uncle Venkat watched my writing career with interest, though he always told N. Krishnan, my father-in-law and his bosom pal, that I spent too much money buying books. He had a sharp eye for finding errors in any Arya Vysya history that S. Muthiah or I wrote about and would immediately call to correct us. As he aged, we corresponded less and last week I spoke to his son Parankusan, asking if I could meet the old man on the Annai song. He would be delighted was the response, but then, Uncle Venkat passed on, on Friday. I hope he was smiling till the end. (V. Sriram is a writer and historian.)
