#Air India and #Jet Airways to skip the conflict zone of Ukraine

Ministry of Civil Aviation has informed that Air India and Jet Airways have issued orders to divert their flights from the conflict zone of Ukraine. This follows a Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777, Flight MH17 enroute from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 295 people aboard, being shot down in eastern Ukraine near the Russian border on Thursday. The Ministry also said that there was no Air India flight near the ill-fated Malaysian plane at the time of the incident. As per information received so far, there was no Indian aboard the ill- fated plane.

We would like to assure our guests that none of our flights to & from Europe fly through the Ukrainian airspace: http://t.co/rZH1zESaDs
— Jet Airways (@jetairways) July 17, 2014

Singapore Airlines SQ351 (B777) and Air India AI113 (B787) were about 25 km from #MH17 when it disappeared says Flightradar Data

Singapore Airlines SQ351 (B777) and Air India AI113 (B787) were about 25 km from #MH17 when it disappeared pic.twitter.com/cVtHxvIAls
— Press Release Watch (@PrReleaseWatch) July 18, 2014

Air India’s induction into Star Alliance, decision tomorrow

Chief Executive Board (CEB) of Star Alliance are meeting in London tomorrow to decide on Air India’s induction into the 26-member global airlines’ grouping.

If the membership is granted, it would end Air India’s seven-year-long wait to access the alliance’s global network of over 18,000 daily flights to 1,269 airports in 193 countries.

The member airlines of Star Alliance together own a total of 4,338 aircraft and fly over 640 million passengers a year, many of whom can also earn and burn frequent flyer miles on the entire alliance network.
Star Alliance CEO Mark Schwab had earlier said that the grouping had long held that India was such an important aviation market that it should be fully represented.“Today we see an Air India which has successfully completed its merger with Indian Airlines and is building up a new fleet that forms the basis for a much improved level of service,” he added.

Three year jail sentence for conspiracy to bribe Fmr Indian Aviation Min & #AirIndia officials

Under Canada's Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act ("CFPOA") Justice Hackland of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice sentenced Nazim Karigar to three years in prison.

Karigar was found guilty of plotting to bribe senior Air India officials and a cabinet minister with payouts and stock options, and for conspiring with employees or associates of Ottawa-based security company CryptoMetrics, to win a multimillion-dollar, facial-recognition software contract for Air India.

In August 2013, following a lengthy trial, Karigar was convicted on a single count indictment of offering to bribe a foreign public official contrary to section 3 of the CFPOA. Karigar was found to have played a leading role in a conspiracy to bribe officials of Air India, a corporation owned and controlled by the Government of India, and the Indian Minister of Civil Aviation, for the purpose of securing a multi-million dollar Air India contract for a biometric security system on behalf of Ottawa-based Cryptometrics Canada Limited.