Air india board to discuss international base plan

The first board meeting of Air India with four new independent directors inducted last month will discuss a proposal for a base in Europe for its flights to the United States. The meeting, to be held on Tuesday, will discuss the viability of the cities of Dublin in Ireland, Birmingham in the United Kingdom, Barcelona in Spain and Copenhagen in Denmark as a base for Air India flights from India to the US.
"The viability of the new destinations will be reviewed in the first board meeting with the new directors and only after that will any decision will be taken," said a senior ministry official, who did not want to be identified.
Air India operates four daily flights from New Delhi and Mumbai to New York, Newark, Washington and Chicago.
Air India had earlier decided upon Frankfurt in Germany as an international hub but gave up the idea after it found the place to be too expensive to operate from.
"The cost per passenger at the Frankfurt terminal is at 10 per cent of the fare charged per passenger, which is high by every standard. This forced us to look for other cheaper destinations," said a senior Air India official, who did not want to be identified.
The new 13-member Air India board has Mahindra & Mahindra Managing Director Anand Mahindra, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry General Secretary Amit Mitra, industrialist Harsh Neotia and Air Chief Marshal (Retd) Fali H Major as independent directors. They have joined the airline for a period of three years.
06/04/10 Mihir Mishra/Business Standard/Sify

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Foreign Apr 2010, NACIL Apr 2010