IA to expand global operations

In face of growing competition in the aviation market, Indian Airlines on Monday said it planned to lease 12 wide-bodied aircraft to expand its international operations and another six turbo-prop ATRs to launch feeder services in some parts of the country, other than the Northeast.

At a presentation before the Parliamentary Consultative Committee on Civil Aviation, the public sector carrier also announced plans to join a global alliance in the long run to enable it gain from the resultant access to new market through code-sharing and interline flows, enhance its global image, upgrade technology and service standards.

The airline said it planned to start dedicated cargo operations by converting its Boeing 737s into freighters, with the proposal being approved by the IA board, an official release said.

Observing that in short-term it would meet its fleet requirements through lease, the IA told the Parliamentary panel meeting chaired by Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel that it was evaluating 10 A-320s for lease.

Five A-319s have been leased for IA subsidiary Alliance Air and would be inducted by October this year. IA now has 17 A-320s and four ATRs, for Northeast operations, on lease.

On the financial front, the IA informed the MPs that the airline's market share had declined due to a fall in its capacity share.

The capacity share declined from 65.2 per cent in 1997-98 to 41.7 in 2004-05 and the market share from 65.9 per cent to 38.2, the IA said.

However, due to various cost-cutting measures, Indian Airlines had a saving of Rs 148 crore (Rs 1.48 billion) last year.

Members of the committee, cutting across party lines, expressed concern at the fall in capacity and market shares, besides shortage of pilots and depleting fleet strength of the carrier.

The MPs, however, appreciated the fact that IA's revenues from providing ground handling services to 19 leading international airlines had increased from Rs 180 crore (Rs 1.80 billion) in 2003-04 to Rs 221 crore in 2004-05. They also welcomed its efforts to come out of the red by cutting costs and improving its performance.

Besides Patel, the meeting was attended among others by Sachin Pilot, Ananth Kumar, Vijay Mallya, Ambika Soni, Tarit Baran Topdar, Anandrao Adsul, Pramod Mahajan and Madhu Goud Yakshi.