The Hindu Business Line : Air India working on cost-cutting moves

It is not only Air India that is suffering losses due to higher operating costs and lower revenues, other private airlines are also facing the same situation.

Hence, the airlines must undertake several measures to bring down the operating costs. At the same time, the Government must also come to the rescue of the airlines.

The loss of revenue incurred by the airlines is mainly due to the hike in the price of the Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF). The public sector oil companies, which hold monopoly in supplying ATF, are not bothered about the impact of increase in the fuel price. Due to this, the airlines have no other go except to revise the airfares, which the domestic travellers are reluctant to pay.

In some of the domestic routes, the first class air-conditioned train tickets are cheaper than the fares of even the economy class of the airlines. Hence, the airlines may fix the price taking into account the Railway first-class air-conditioned fares so that they can attract more number of domestic passengers.

The airline industry can press the Centre to allow the private oil companies in the field of aviation turbine fuel so that the price of ATF may come down. In case of an increase in the price of ATF, the airlines must explore all other options before passing them on to the passengers.

Above all, airlines should improve their overall efficiency and try to cut costs in all their operations. If this is done, the airlines will be in a position to keep a check on the costs.

*S. Nallasivan, Tirunelveli

Bulk of the airlines’ revenues goes into paying salaries to pilots, who are mostly hired from abroad. More number of pilot training centres should be opened in all the regions to train pilots. Though foreign pilots can be paid reasonable salaries, their perks can be scaled down. Attrition is inevitable in the industry and intensive training of pilots is needed to fill the gap.

Online ticketing is more economical and the recently merged airline companies should be in a position to save on costs by integrating their functions. More training centres are needed for airhostess too.

Best catering and good maintenance of rest room will go a long way in attracting different nationals from all over the country.

The airports should also be equipped with the spacious hangers, fog-fighting machines, handling flight movements, taking care of sickly passengers etc.

T.S. Sundareswaran,

New Delhi

The airports should try to improve the turnaround time on each airport, which will result in huge cost savings and help in increasing the frequency of service.

The number of crew per flight can also to be optimised. By offering more tickets at lower price and through better customer service, the airlines can increase the load factor too.

V. Sreejith, e-mail

It is time for Air India to go in for privatisation. The airlines can ensure better results through excellent customer service, punctuality, making the staff more accountable, good reward points, etc.

Good maintenance of aircraft combined with first class catering will help Air India in image building.

Any drastic cost cutting moves may demotivate the employees further.

R. Swaminathan, Tiruchi

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