Air-India net seen down 83%

Air India is expected to register a net profit of around Rs 15 crore (Rs 150 million) for 2004-05, a decline of more than 83 per cent from the previous year's net profit of Rs 92.33 crore (Rs 923 million) due to the global oil price shock, Amod Sharma, director, corporate affairs, A-I, said in London on Wednesday.

India's international carrier had to bear an addition cost of Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) due to the rising oil price.

Sharma said Air-India might also lose about Rs 340 crore (Rs 3.4 billion) on account of royalty due to the several bilateral air agreements that the Government of India is getting into.

Meanwhile, with the introduction of the new Delhi-Dhaka-Kolkata-London flight, A-I has now a total of 24 flights per week to United Kingdom - 21 to London and 3 to Birmingham.

"A-I has registered 100 per cent growth in services on the India-UK route over the last 15 months. The sector has a market size of over 1.7 million," said Jitendra Bhargava, director-public relations.

With the introduction of the new flight where London will be a terminating destination unlike the past, the carrier is expecting to increase its market share significantly -- which at present is about 20 per cent.

Bhargava said the India-UK route has contributed around Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) to the airline's total revenue that is expected to be around Rs 7,435 crore (Rs 74.35 billion) in 2004-05.

Ashvini K Sharma, regional director, UK and Europe, said, "We have registered a revenue of Rs 370 crore (Rs 3.7 billion) in 2004-05, significantly higher from Rs 190 crore (Rs 1.9 billion) three years back from the India-UK sector."