President Kovind boards first flight of Air India One for Chennai, to visit Tirumala today

News Network

November 24, 2020

New Delhi, Nov 24: President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday boarded the first flight of the Air India One - B777 aircraft for Chennai for his visit to the Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.

President Kovind, accompanied by his wife Savita Kovind, will reach Tirupati airport at Renigunta at 10.30 am today.

"President Kovind boards the Air India One- B777 aircraft for the inaugural flight to Chennai. The President will be visiting Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh to offer prayers at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple," the office of the President of India tweeted.

The President commended the pilots, crew members and the entire team of Air India and Indian Air Force (IAF) for operating the state-of-the-art aircraft and facilitating VVIP movements within the country and on state visits abroad. "This is the first flight of the Air India One - B777 aircraft with the Head of State on board. The aircraft is fuel-efficient and has longer range than the B747-400 that are deployed for similar VVIP operations. The aircraft has state-of-art interiors with reduced noise levels," Ajay Kumar Singh, Press Secretary to the President said in a statement.

Air India One aircraft is exclusively meant for the President, Vice President and Prime Minister.

Two VVIP aircraft Air India One arrived in India recently.

The aircraft are equipped with an advanced and secured communication system that allows availing audio and video communication functions mid-air without any worries of hacking or being taped, sources familiar with the details told ANI earlier.

The VVIP aircraft B-777 is a replacement of wide-body aircraft Boeing B-747 jumbo aircraft whose call sign is Air India One.

The new Boeing 777 aircraft for VVIPs guest is also equipped with advanced defence systems and will be operated fully by IAF pilots in due course of time.

Andhra Pradesh Governor Biswabhusan Harichandanand and Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy will welcome the President at the Tirupati airport.

After his arrival, President Kovind is scheduled to visit the Tiruchanur Sri Padmavati temple. From there he will go to the guest house at Tirumala at 12.15 pm.

The President will visit the Varaha Swami Temple and Lord Balaji temple at 12.50 pm.

At 3 pm, he will leave Tirumala to depart for Ahmedabad.

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IndiGo offers full waiver on cancellations, reschedule requests for bookings between Dec 5 and 15

News Network

December 6,2025

With IndiGo flight disruptions impacting thousands of passengers, the airline on Saturday said that it will offer full waiver on all cancellations/reschedule requests for travel bookings between December 5, 2025 and December 15, 2025.

Earlier in the day, the civil aviation ministry had directed the airline to complete the ticket refund process for the cancelled flights by Sunday evening, as well as ensure baggage separated from the travellers are delivered in the next two days.

In a post on X, titled 'No questions asked', IndiGo wrote, "In response to recent events, all refunds for your cancellations will be processed automatically to your original mode of payment."

"We are deeply sorry for the hardships caused," it further added.

Several passengers, however, complained of not getting full refund as promised by the airline.

Netizens have shared screenchots of getting charged for airline cancellation fee and convenience fee.

"Please tell me why u have did this airline cancellation charges when u say full amount will be refunded (sic)," a user wrote sharing a screenshot of the refund page.

"Well, but you have still debited the convenience charges," wrote another.

Passengers have also raised concerns about the "cancel" option being disabled on the IndiGo app. "First enable the 'Cancel' button on your App & offer full refund on tickets cancelled by customers between the said dates," wrote a user.

A day after the country's largest airline, IndiGo, cancelled more than 1,000 flights and caused disruptions for the fifth day on Saturday, the ministry said that any delay or non-compliance in refund processing will invite immediate regulatory action.

The refund process for all cancelled or disrupted flights must be completed by 8 pm on Sunday, the ministry said in a statement.

"Airlines have also been instructed not to levy any rescheduling charges for passengers whose travel plans were affected by cancellations," it said.

On Saturday, more than 400 flights were cancelled at various airports.

IndiGo has also been instructed to set up dedicated passenger support and refund facilitation cells.

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