Air-India plans to expand its 33 aircraft fleet by dry leasing two Boeing 747-400 aircraft and increasing the number of seats during the summer season.

Besides a direct flight from Ahmedabad to London, the airline plans to connect Dar es Salaam, and Kochi to Salalah in the Gulf, Air-India Chairman and Managing Director V Thulasidas told reporters on the sidelines of the 13^th international aviation conference which began on Friday in Bangalore.

"What we are increasing in the summer, is not to the US, but to London, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and Salalah," he said.

Air-India was mulling direct flights to the US West Coast, where thousands of Indian software engineers work, Thulasidas said, adding the national carrier was looking at three flights a week to Los Angeles and West Coast, but "the plans were yet to be firmed up."

He said the national carrier may also look at increasing flights to the US and also to Canada in future.

Air-India plans to double its fleet capacity to about 70 over the next few years and had dry leased 14 aircraft so far, from Korean and Singapore airlines.

Thulasidas said the airline had made Rs 14 crore (Rs 400 million) profits in the third quarter ending December and would end with a higher profits this fiscal, but lower than Rs 133 crore (Rs 1.33 billion) registered last fiscal.

He said Air-India made losses of Rs 45 crore (Rs 450 million) in the first half, due to pilot agitation and disruption of flights because of SARS epidemic and subsequently due to the Iraq war.