Air India to make Delhi new network hub

New Delhi: Loss-laden Air India plans to develop Delhi as an additional network hub as its main centre of operation Mumbai has become too congested. The move will help the carrier provide direct connectivity to international customers on its domestic network. The airline operates international flights to London, Frankfurt, New York, Tokyo and Singapore among others.
In a major operational overhaul, the carrier has decided to take a re-look at its international hub in Frankfurt, company CMD Arvind Jadhav is believed to have informed the civil aviation minister Praful Patel in a review meeting of airline in the capital on Tuesday.
The airline has said Frankfurt airport is very expensive and indicated that it would, for the time being, focus on point-to-point traffic. In a presentation to the Union minister Mr Jadhav said that the airline has achieved a higher load factor in the past few months. Air India also said that it will defer the delivery of three B777-300 ER (extended range) as part of fleet rationalisation plan. While the airline chief talked about cost cutting and revenue enhancement measures, the minister asked the company to improve its fleet utilisation.
Mr Jadhav said that the airline’s load factor had recently gone up and revenue improved.
06/01/10 Nirbhay Kumar/Economic Times

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Categories: Airports Jan 2010, NACIL Jan 2010