Air India’s Fleet Revolution: Inaugural Airbus A350-900 arrives! Sets new industry standards with short-haul triumphs to long-haul aspirations In a significant development, Air India is set to welcome its inaugural wide-body Airbus A350-900 aircraft in the national capital on Saturday. This marks a milestone for the airline, as it becomes the first Indian carrier to incorporate this advanced aircraft into its fleet. The first A350-900, featuring Air India’s new livery and interior, will undergo several post-arrival regulatory processes upon reaching Delhi. These include customs clearance, DGCA checks on equipment, ground tests, and proving flights to ensure operational readiness before passenger services commence.Short-Haul Operations and Initial Phases Air India’s Chief, Campbell Wilson, revealed to his staff on Friday that the initial deployment of the A350-900 will involve short-haul routes, a PTI report said. The airline has ambitious plans to introduce a total of six A350 planes in the first phase of its fleet expansion. Air India is not only advancing its fleet but is also modernizing its image. The report further said that the CEO and MD announced the impending introduction of new uniforms for the airline’s ground staff and Air India Express staff. This follows the recent introduction of updated uniforms for the cabin and cockpit crew. The Tata Group-owned carrier has already secured regulatory approval for the engineering line maintenance of A350 aircraft. This significant achievement ensures the smooth operation and maintenance of all six A350 planes scheduled for induction into the fleet, demonstrating Air India’s commitment to aviation excellence.
Retail inflation in milk was reported at 8.85% in May 2023. The milk inflation has remained elevated at over 6% since August 2022. Despite India being the largest milk producer since 1998, the commodity has been the second biggest factor after cereals such as rice and wheat in driving up retail inflation in the last fiscal.
Milk has the second highest weight in the food and beverages basket of the consumer price index at 6.61%, a notch lower than cereals and products with a 9.67% weight. Organised players, including Mother Dairy and Amul, hiked prices multiple times in the last one year citing higher fodder cost, robust demand and some impact due to reports of lumpy skin disease.
Industry sources said feed cost, which has a share of more than 65% in the cost of production of milk, has increased to Rs 20/kg from Rs 8 a year ago. The finance ministry in April had attributed the elevated milk inflation to a demand supply mismatch and said it could be one of the factors apart from volatile international crude oil prices and constrained supplies of milk would influence the country’s inflation trajectory.
“Milk production has been impacted by a lumpy skin disease infecting millions of cattle in late 2022,” the ministry said in the monthly economic review, adding that the vaccination drive against the disease is expected to curb the spread and immune the cattle against the skin disease.
According to official data, currently India is the world’s largest milk producer, and has a share of 23% in global milk production. For the first time in decades, the country’s milk production is likely to have stagnated in 2022-23 due to Lumpy Skin Disease in cattle across several states and the lagged effect of Covid-19 in the form of stunting of the animals, a senior official with department of animal husbandry and dairying recently had stated. The milk production was estimated at 221 million tonne in 2021-22.