New Delhi: Another 100 planes for Air India? You heard that right. Even as the airline battles mounting losses, a turnaround plan already approved by its board of directors has allowed it to enhance its fleet to around 240 aeroplanes.
The plan, which looks at comprehensive ways to bring the loss-making carrier back into black, is yet to be approved by the civil aviation ministry.
According to official sources, the airline had initially suggested fleet enhancement on a much bigger scale — from the current 145 to 400.
“The airline management has an unreasonable demand. It says that the industry norm is 100-110 people per aircraft and since AI’s manpower is 40,000 permanent employees, its fleet size should be around 400 to arrive at that ratio. The management said unless fleet size reaches 400 aircraft, the airline cannot generate enough revenue to overcome losses. We don’t think this demand makes sense,” a ministry source said.
An airline official, however, denied making that claim. The earlier demand was to take the fleet above 280 aircraft, but the board agreed to 240, he said.
All the same, now with a board approval for an additional 100 planes, the airline will have its task cut out in figuring out a timeline for this significant fleet enhancement. Also, it has to decide how many of the new planes can be bought and how many taken on lease.
13/04/11 Sindhu Bhattacharya/Daily News & Analysis
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