Air India loses ₹6 cr every day: IANS

Air India lost about Ropes 300 crore in just twomonths due to the closure of Pakistan airspace, IANS reports, citingunidentified government officials. The national carrier is compelled tore-route its west-bound international flights (from Delhi), stretching flyingtime by an additional 2-3 hours. The result: Higher fuel burn, increased crewexpenses, reduced flights and a daily loss of Rupees 6 crore. Air India is not alone: in all, about 350 daily flightsof different carriers have been affected. It has dialled the civil aviationministry for compensation.

Air India uses its Boeing 777s and 787s fortrans-continental flights to the US and Europe. Data from various sources showsthat the 777-200LR costs around $9,750-10,500/hour to operate and the 777-300ERcomes in at $10,250-10,700/hour. For the 787-800, the per hour costing worksout to $8,000-8,500. Air India has 45 of these Boeing wide-bodies, in additionto 4 747s which are fuel guzzlers. So, 2-3 hours of additional flying does not sit well with the Maharajah finances.

The 'Maharaja' has been the pride of India sinceyears and has been faithfully serving the country even in loss, occasionalrestructuring and government support. But it is now time to reinvent itsoperational issues by improving on reducing ground time and increase in flightturnover. Intelligent business make profit on turnover and this can be achievedby improving the quality of technical backup to a team of enthusiastic crew, ofwhich the second is of utmost importance and their motivation should be primarilylooked after. The secret of all low cost successful airlines is perhaps this,coupled with flyers faith of on time arrival , since "time is money"for all.