Two years ago, a section of Air India pilots went on a 10-day strike demanding better pay. The strike forced the national carrier to cancel dozens of flights, suffering a loss of revenue and market share. To regain market share, the lossmaking airline slashed fares. That proved disastrous. "It played havoc with our finances," says Chairman and Managing Director Rohit Nandan , who took over at the airline in August 2011. "After I came, I decided no more low fares. There is no point in focusing on your market share at the cost of profitability."
The dogged pursuit of profits by the 1982-batch IAS officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre has started showing results. The carrier posted earnings before tax, interest, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of Rs 19 crore in 2012/13. The achievement is significant, considering that the airline has been making losses for the past seven years. Air India's operational parameters have improved as well. Its flights, for instance, stick to their schedules more often than before. Air India's on-time performance improved to 82 per cent in May this year from 80 per cent a year earlier, according to data from industry regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation. And its local market share leapt to 19.1 per cent in May from 16.2 per cent a year earlier, the data show.
23/07/13 K.R. Balasubramanyam and Mahesh Nayak/Business Today
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The dogged pursuit of profits by the 1982-batch IAS officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre has started showing results. The carrier posted earnings before tax, interest, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of Rs 19 crore in 2012/13. The achievement is significant, considering that the airline has been making losses for the past seven years. Air India's operational parameters have improved as well. Its flights, for instance, stick to their schedules more often than before. Air India's on-time performance improved to 82 per cent in May this year from 80 per cent a year earlier, according to data from industry regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation. And its local market share leapt to 19.1 per cent in May from 16.2 per cent a year earlier, the data show.
23/07/13 K.R. Balasubramanyam and Mahesh Nayak/Business Today
