The Hindu Business Line : Air India likely to post lower profit

The national flag carrier is adding more capacity and expects to double its fleet strength to around 60 in a few years and induct 150 more pilots soon.

The Air India Chairman and Managing Director, Mr V. Thulasidas, told presspersons here on Friday that the airline may post lesser profits during the current year compared with the last fiscal. During 2002-03, it posted a net profit of around Rs 133 crore.

He said the airline incurred a loss of around Rs 45 crore during the first six months of 2003-04. It managed to post a profit of around Rs 14 crore as of December 2003. "We expect a small profit during the fiscal," Mr Thulasidas said.

He said the airline plans to offer one-lakh additional seats during 2004-05. It will induct two 747-400s on dry lease shortly. The airline already has 14 aircraft on dry lease. It plans to phase out around four aircraft over a period of time.

It will shortly launch a flight to Dar-us-Salaam and three more flights to the west coast in the US. The airline currently operates 20 flights to the US. It plans to double the frequency of flights to the US in a year. The airline will also operate flights from Ahmedabad to the US and UK soon.

Mr Thulasidas said the airline plans to induct 150 more pilots in two years. There are around 40 pilots currently undergoing training who will be inducted soon. Air India has around 600 pilots.

Earlier, addressing an international conference on aviation, Mr Thulasidas said air transport in India is expected to grow to around eight per cent with outbound traffic increasing more than the inbound traffic.

Abolition of inland air travel tax (IATT) and reduction of excise on aviation turbine fuel would boost air traffic. He said several States including Karnataka should bring down taxes on aviation turbine fuel (ATF). Currently, Karnataka levies a 28 per cent tax on ATF.

Quoting an internal study, Mr Thulasidas said nearly two-third of business travellers switch their carriers on a regular basis. "Hence AI has a huge potential to expand its business," he said.