BEVERLY HILLS: Air India held its Agent Appreciation Night at the Tanjore Banquet Hall here in Beverly Hills. The dinner was attended by a select group of Travel and Tourism industry professionals and the Air India Los Angeles team led by Lalit Kapur, Manager West Coast.In his welcome address Lalit Kapur spoke on the future plans of Air India and said that despite reduced flights, 2006-07 was better than 2005-06. He also introduced his team and welcomed Neelaj Sharma the new District Sales Manager.

Also present on the occasion was PS Rajagopal, Regional Manager (USA and Canada). Rajagopal too spoke on related issues and spelt out future plans. He also said that Air India has already begun to receive its new planes.

The first Boeing 777-200LR aircraft was delivered by Boeing to Air India on 26 July 2007. These new aircraft will allow Air India to open up new routes to Australia, Canada, Europe, East Asia, Africa and the United States The Boeing 777-200 LR aircraft have given the carrier an enhanced capability.

Air India currently has daily non-stop flights between New York and Bombay and New York and Delhi. The carrier operates its new 777 -200 LR jets on these sectors. Air India is also one of the few elite carriers to fly the North Pole route.

Future plans include flights to India from San Francisco. There are also proposals to begin flights to Houston and Washington DC. And, of course very soon Air India will increase the frequency of its Los Angeles flights. Awards ceremony There was an awards ceremony where Travel Agents were awarded for achieving sales of 1 million and above. Those honored were Picasso Travel, CN Travel, Travel Spring, Skybird Travel, Maazda Travel and Town & Country Travel.

The Picasso Travel award was received by Huseyin Ozyurtcu, Travel Spring award by Padmini Murthy, Skybird Travel award by Jessie Soni, Maazda Travel award by Firoze Dordi (on behalf of Rajnish Kaul) and Town & Country Travel award by Ravi Joshi.Ravi Joshi of Town & Country Travel was the Top Seller followed by Firoze Dordi of Maazda Travel.PS Rajagopal, Regional Manager, USA & Canada gave the Awards Air India has officially merged with Indian Airlines to create a merged airline consisting of 200+ aircraft in 2007.

The combined entity has confirmed that it is joining Star Alliance and will expand its network to be the biggest South Asian airline and one of Asia's biggest. Air India will replace seven of their Boeing 747-400 by 2010 and is evaluating the Boeing 747-8 aircraft as their replacement. The remaining three will operate Medium-Haul flights until 2015, when they will be retired.

Air India is in talks with Airbus for eight A380 Superjumbos. If Air India orders now the aircraft can be delivered by 2012. Meanwhile, Air India is refurbishing the interiors of its six owned Boeing 747-400. This refurbishment includes in-flight entertainment systems in all classes.

The first has already arrived and has been deployed.Air India also has plans to purchase the Airbus A350-1000 and the Airbus A340-600 for ultra long haul routes and long haul routes respectively.Additionally, Air India will be wet leasing two Airbus A330 and Airbus A340-500 from Kingfisher Airlines.Air India plans Boeing 777-300ER aircraft to replace their Boeing 747-300 aircraft and Boeing 767-300 leased aircraft.

They will operate on routes to Europe and the United States. Also, the airline is planning to use Boeing 787-8 aircraft to replace their ageing Airbus A310-300 on routes to the Middle East and Southeast and East Asia.On July 28, 2007 Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel proposed a further fleet expansion of 60 aircraft.

Air India is working with both Airbus and Boeing, and since this order will be only for extra widebody aircraft, it may include the A380, Boeing 747-8, additional Boeing 777, Boeing 787 or the Airbus A350-1000.As for awards and accolades, Air India has them all.

The Airline entered the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest evacuation by a civil airliner, involving evacuation of over 111,000 people from Amman to Mumbai - a distance of 4,117 km, by operating 488 flights in association with Indian Airlines, during August 13 - October 11, 1990, lasting a total of 59 days. The operation was carried out during Persian Gulf War in 1990 to evacuate Indian expatriates from Kuwait and Iraq.

The airline received The Mercury Award for the years 1994 and 2003, from the International Flight Catering Association, for finest in-flight catering services. In addition to this the United Nations presented Air India the Montreal Protocol Public Awareness Award for environmental protection, especially in the ozone layer. Air India won the preferred international airline award for travel and hospitality by Awaz Consumer Awards 2006.

The airline's security department became the first aviation security organization in the world to acquire ISO 9002-1994 certification (January 31, 2001). The Department of Engineering, Air India, has obtained the ISO 9002 for its Engineering facilities for meeting international standards.