AI-IA witness fall in load factor since merger

New Delhi: The government’s move to merge the two national carriers, Air India and Indian Airlines, and improve market shares does not appear to have yielded much till now.
The merged public sector airline’s load factor has been sliding since last August. According to government data, the airline’s load has been the lowest among all other airlines.
While almost all the carriers have been managing to fill over 70% capacity during the last five months of the calendar year, Air India could see only about 60% occupancy on its flights during the same period.
“In the last two years, our capacity has more or less stagnated at about 29 million available seat kilometre (ASK) per day, leading to lower seat factor. As against this, the industry’s total capacity has gone up from 175.5 million ASK per day in April this year (from 113.8 million in April last year),” an Air India spokesperson said.
In 2006-07, the combined entity incurred a loss of Rs 700 crore. In fiscal year 2007-08, the loss is expected to be above Rs 1,000 crore. The government created National Aviation Company of India (NACIL) to merge the two national carriers.
20/06/08 Nirbhay Kumar/Economic Times

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Categories: Air India - International Jun 2008, Air India Domestic Jun 2008, NACIL Jun 2008