Withdrawal of popular flights by Air India stuns pilots and other employees the airlines

Chennai: The withdrawal of a few ‘popular’ flights by Air India in its latest winter schedule ‘due to poor load viability’ has stunned the pilots and other employees of the airlines. Among the flights withdrawn as per the schedule that is effective October 25 is IC 997/998 in the Calicut-Doha-Bahrain sector, which the employees point out enjoyed an average occupancy of 80 to 85 per cent.
The factsheet clearly states that during the past six months 80 to 85 per cent of the seats were filled. “Even in the 20-minute journey from Bahrain to Doha, the flight had a 55 per cent occupancy. There is no rationale behind the withdrawal of this flight that was doing so well,” said a senior Air India official.
Industry insiders point out that Air India has withdrawn from sectors that had good patronage in the past, too, letting private airlines capture the business. An year ago, IC-975 operating in the then Coimbatore-Cochin-Sharjah route with an average seat factor of 80 per cent was withdrawn and Air Arabia that came in on that route is now doing roaring business, an official said. “Similarly flights from Chennai to Coimbatore were withdrawn and private carriers have benefited out of that,” an aviation expert said. It is this kind of rescheduling on domestic and international sectors that had brought the airline to the present state, an official told Express.
26/10/09 Mamta Todi/ExpressBuzz

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Categories: Air India Domestic Oct 2009, Airports Oct 2009, Foreign Oct 2009, NACIL Oct 2009