Air India to cut flights on international routes

New Delhi: In a move to curtail mounting losses, national carrier Air India plans to withdraw some flights on international sectors. A decision to this effect was taken in a board meeting of the company held in Mumbai on Sunday. The company has already reduced capacity in the domestic market by nearly 15%. Air India has also reduced air fare on international routes ranging from 5% to 20% to improve its load.
According to industry sources, Air India would soon withdraw its services on Delhi-Los Angeles sector. Some of the flights on India-Africa sector would also be pulled out. The Delhi-Los Angeles service was launched in June 2004. Air India operates three flights a week to Los Angeles.
The Union civil aviation minister, Praful Patel, recently said Air India would save about Rs 1,000 crore in the next 12 months by undertaking an exercise of rationalising routes. Currently, the airline is running up a loss of Rs 13 crore per day on account of high jet fuel price and significantly low load factor — which is below industry average of about 60%.
05/08/08 Economic Times

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