Air India discusses reducing flights to New York, decision likely soon

Mumbai: Surging air turbine fuel prices and mounting losses may compel Air India to reduce the frequency some of its international flights including its recently-introduced New York flights from both Mumbai and Delhi.
The matter was understood to have been discussed at a meeting of senior Air India officials recently.
"The meeting discussed the issue of reducing the frequency of some of our flights, including the Delhi-New York and Mumbai-New York non-stop services. However, due to divergent views, no final call was taken," an Air India official told PTI today on strict condition of anonymity.
According to the official, one of the proposals discussed was to cut the New York flights by half from both the destinations.
Currently, there are seven flights a week from each destination. Apart from high operational costs, the load factor on both the routes is also understood to be below the air-carrier's expectations. "This is also weighing on the minds of the management," the official said.
The officials discussed reducing the flights to three from New Delhi and four from Mumbai in view of the not-so-encouraging load factor," he said.
19/06/08 PTI/Economic Times

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