Kochi: Notwithstanding the bravados by the minister of state for civil aviation K C Venugopal, shifting of Air India Express (AIE) headquarters to Kochi from Mumbai still remains incomplete.
Howvever, the low budget wing of the national carrier seems to have achieved significant improvement in schedule integrity since January when its headquarters was officially shifted from Mumbai to Kochi on January 1.
Redeployment of the staff and finding a space for locating AIE headquarters are becoming a long-drawn out process.
For all practical purposes, the administrative headquarters continues to be in Mumbai and the operational control in Delhi where the Integrated Operational Control Centre of Air India is located, according to aviation sources.
22/03/13 T Ramavarman/Times of India
