Air India Eyeing For Recovery
By Arnab Ghosh, Gaea News NetworkSaturday, May 22, 2010
NEW DELHI, INDIA (GaeaTimes.com)- The new board of India’s largest airline Air India met with Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and PM Manmohan Singh on Wednesday to seek aid from the Indian government to give the carrier a much needed boost. They have asked for an amount of INR 5,000 crore from the government in this regard. The board also informed the PM of the financial condition of the airline. The air India board also has plans to reduce the expenditure by INR 2,000 crore per year. The airline has been facing stiff competition from private airlines for the last few years and especially the low-cost carriers are giving it a run for its money in domestic sector.
Air India’s new board also has plans to improve its lackluster load factor and cut down on the loss-making routes as much as possible. The Board of directors has jotted down some stiff targets for the airline which is making losses for quite some time. The directors want the PF or passenger load factor in both domestic and international flights to reach a level of 70 percent. The new board of the airline consists of the corporate honchos like Harsh Neotia, Amit Mitra and Anand Mahindra among others.
Air India has tasted some success with load factors in the last few months. After merging with IA, Air India has started showing signs of improvement and the board of directors want to carry it forward. The number of passengers flown in April this year is more than that recorded in the same month in 2009.
