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The 3rd meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Civil Aviation met today in Mumbai to discuss ‘Air-India Limited’.
The meeting was chaired by the Minister for Civil Aviation, Shri Praful Patel. Welcoming the members of the Committee the Chairman said that the Civil Aviation sector is currently growing at a rate of 26 percent. There is much more scope and much more needs to be done. Talking about Air India he said that the Ministry would go for IPO for both Air India and Indian Airlines but below 51 percent to retain their PSU character. The employees of the respective organisations will also be offered shares to increase their participation in their parent companies.
In the meeting the members were informed that Air India operates 193 frequencies per week and offers 39866 seats/week to/from India, of which 167 frequencies/week were on international routes and 26 on domestic. It shared Joint Venture/Code Share Arrangements with Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Asiana Airlines, Lufthansa, Air France, Austrian Airlines, Swiss Airlines, Aeroflot and Air Mauritius, Emirates, Thai Airways, Kuwait Airways, Turkish Airlines and Silk Air for different destinations.
Air India had incurred a net profit of Rs. 7.85 crores in Apr-Sept 2004. The factors that affected the profitability were – global economic recession, resulting in erosion of passenger traffic especially business traffic and the upward spiraling global fuel prices.
To improve its performances, Air India plans to augment its fleet strength. It has submitted a proposal to the government for acquisition of 18 B737-800 aircraft for Air India Express. A proposal for acquiring a total of 50 aircrafts for Air India is likely to be submitted to the government shortly – through the process of dry-lease during 2005-06. Over and above the existing fleet of 35 aircrafts in its present fleet, Air India plans to add another 39 to it to have a fleet size of 74 by 2012-13.
Air India has planned the following new routes:
· India/Frankfurt/San Francisco
· India/Birmingham/Toronto
· India/Mauritius/South Africa
· India/Singapore/Sydney
Increased frequencies are as follows:
Present
Summer
2005
Winter
2005
India/London
18
(1 flight. eff. March 05)
21
21
(to be enhanced subject to approvals)
India/Bangkok
4
9
13
India Singapore
15
15
21
India/Kuala Lumpur
7
13
21
India /Singapore/Jakart
3
4
5
India/Hong Kong
5
7
11
The members who attended the meeting include S/Shri Tusharbhai A. Choudhary, Madhu Goud Yashki, Sachin Pilot, Kunwar Jitin Prasad, Rahul Gandhi, Ananth Kumar, Santosh Gangwar, Tapir Gao, Ashok Argal, Ramswaroop Koli, Tarit Baran Topdar, Akshay Pratap Singh, Dr.(Prof.) Prasanna Kumar Patasani and Miland Murli Deora from Lok Sabha and S/Shri Santosh Bagrodia, K.B. Krishna Murthy, Balavant Apte, Dr. (Smt.) Najma A. Heptulla, Tarlochan Singh, Dinesh Trivedi, Smt. Sarla Maheshwari, Sanjay Nirupam, Abdul Wahab Peevee, Dr. Vijay Mallya and Rajeev Shukla from Rajya Sabha.
MC/GK
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