Once bitten, Air India shies away from Europe

New Delhi: After a bad experience with a hub in Frankfurt, which Air India had to dismantle in just 17 months, the government carrier does not plan to make any new one in Europe.
The Irish civil aviation minister had been quoted as saying AI was thinking seriously in terms of a hub for Europe in Dublin.
“We do not plan to make any hub in Europe, or Dublin for that matter, because it does not make sense for a carrier like us, which has direct flights to the US. All our flights are doing well,” said a top AI official, who did not want to be identified.
He added the earlier hub in Frankfurt did not prove beneficial and wasn’t worth the cost. “We are saving ¤30 million (Rs 190 crore) per year by dismantling our Frankfurt hub. A hub in Delhi is doing well for us,” he said.
The airline made Frankfurt its hub in June 2009; this was dismantled in October 2010, after deciding a large number of flights could not be launched through the hub, apart from the expense. “Lufthansa, with its base in Frankfurt, being a very strong airline, also hampered our plans to develop Frankfurt as our hub,” said an AI official.
On a recent visit to India, Ireland’s minister for transport, tourism and sports, Leo Varadkar, had told journalists an AI team would be visiting there in the next six to eight weeks to study Dublin airport, selecting this after a study of around 10 airports in Europe.
29/03/11 Surajeet Das Gupta & Mihir Mishra/Business Standard

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Categories: Airports Mar 2011, Foreign Mar 2011