Air India loses Rs 1,492 crore on international routes

New Delhi: Profitability or just breaking even may be like chasing a mirage for the almost bankrupt Air India. The airline operates 42 international routes using widebody (twin aisle) aircraft. A government committee set up to examine all its routes and then suggest ways of turning around their fortunes has found that these routes lost Rs 1,492 crore in 2011-12. And just 13 of them contributed to 75 per cent of the losses. The top seven loss-making routes are AI's most prestigious flights to North America and Europe.
Now, this preliminary report is being sent to the airline to see how these routes and the entire network could be tweaked by either changing flight timings; changing fares or putting different aircraft on those routes. "All the routes will be rationalized and an attempt be made to at least make them break even. The least loss-making routes will be started first once AI has pilots to fully utilize the widebody fleet," said a senior official.
23/06/12 Economic Times

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Categories: Air India Jun 2012, Foreign Jun 2012