IA, AI to fly high on shared routes

New Delhi:In an attempt to grab more marketshare and make the life of the international air-traveller just that much easier, National Aviation Company Ltd, the new merged AI-IA entity, will use the hub-and-spoke concept to get more passenger footfalls and bring about greater synergy between themselves. What’s more, it will add to the revenue.
"The merger of AI and IA will give us an additional revenue of around Rs 800-1,200 crore, and includes what we gain from the hub-and-spoke concept too. This revenue, incidentally, is after taking into account various costs," says V Thulasidas, chairman, AI, and CMD of the merged entity.
This concept is due to start from August 1 when AI’s 777s start direct non-stop operations from Mumbai to New York, says V Trivedi, CMD, IA. "Initially, we’ll have three dedicated planes for this on three sectors daily — two A-320s of IA and one A-310 of AI. The first two will be from Mumbai to Chennai and Bangalore and the third from Mumbai to Hyderabad, respectively, making a total of 21 extra flights weekly," he says.
"Eventually," says Thulasidas, "IA’s entire network will be used to take/bring passengers from various cities to larger metros, from where they’ll be transported to their international destinations through AI’s network," says Thulasidas. IA will do this, he says, over and above the routes it’s flying presently.
15/07/07 Economic Times

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Categories: Air India Jul 2007, Foreign Jul 2007, Indian Jul 2007