January 10, 2018 TnH Global

Air India’s April-September revenues up 10 per cent: CMD Pradeep Singh Kharola

National carrier Air India has improved its revenues by about 10% during the first 9 months of this fiscal, said Chairman and Managing Director Pradeep Singh Kharola. Without sharing any details on numbers, Kharola said that the improvement in revenues is a big plus for airline.

“Our revenues during April-December 2017 over same period during 2016 has increased by about 10%. Our load factors too have increased to about 80% during the period from 75%. These are big pluses for an airline and we are going to build on it further,” said Kharola.

Our revenue growth through cargo has been in the range of 20%, he said. He added that he will be working to improve service of the national carrier with an aim to make more and more people fly not just the economy class but the premium classes of the airline too, thus, adding to airline’s bottomline.

“We have to target low-hanging fruits and that is to improve service, which will give us maximum return by putting in least amount of work,” he further said.

He also has plans to consolidate the airline’s position in the long-haul routes to the US and Australia. “Our long-haul flights are doing well and we plan to add more flights on the route. We are also planning to launch a flight to Los Angeles and a few more flights to Australia,” he said.

Air India will be inducting three Bowing 777s during the first two months of the current year. “While the two of them, being inducted in January, is for VVIP flights, the third one will be used by us for our commercial operations,” Kharola said.

According to the plan, these two Boeing 777s will be transferred to Indian Air Force, which will operate it after Air India is privatised. These two aircraft will be customised exclusively for VVIP operations, which may take a year’s time.

The cost of the aircraft will initially be paid by Air India. “A lot of details are to be worked and the government is discussing it. I would not be share more than the fact the two aircraft will be coming in January,” he said.