Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

Air-India plans to spread wings in US, Canada

Amrita Dhar ion New Delhi

Air-India is planning to expand its operations to Australia, the west coast of the United States and Canada over 2003-05. The airline also plans to increase flights to some European and South-East Asian destinations.

The carrier is particularly interested in the Australia sector as the airlines does not have any code sharing agreement with any international airlines on the sector. "Australia would be a virgin destination for A-I and we feel that this is a lucrative market thanks primarily to the student traffic," a senior A-I official said.

The passenger stations that the airline wants to touch in western United States include San Francisco and Los Angeles while Toronto is the destination that A-I wants to tap in Canada. In Europe the airlines wants to increase flights to France and Germany. The plans are also to introduce flights to Rome and Amsterdam.

The expansion plans are subject to the acquisition of new aircraft by the airline. The A-I board has cleared the proposal for the acquisition of 17 long haul 250-seater aircraft and some short haul 150 seaters aircraft. A-I currently has 25 aircraft.

A-I officials are hopeful that the first tranche of aircraft will be inducted by December 2003. The airlines wants to phase out four Boeing 747-200 planes and two Boeing Combi aircrafts.

A-I wants to introduce long haul flights on the transatlantic route to cash in on the visiting friends and relatives category. The sector at present accounts for about 15 per cent of the airlines' revenue.

Currently it has 10 flights to the transatlantic, 7 to New York and 3 to Chicago. The airline has bilaterals for 96 countries but it utilises only 46.

Powered by

ALSO READ:
Air-India: Of divestment and other issues
More Money Headlines