The beleaguered national carrier
Air India which has been in red
for the past few years has more than one reason to cheer about.
The New Year seems to be favoring the national carrier as things appear to
be falling back on track. The restructuring plan initiated by the carrier during
the fiscal 2010-11 seems to be paying dividends with the airline reporting
improvement across all parameters. For the first time in recent years, Air
India has made a cash profit of Rs 21.66 cr in November 2010. For a debt-ridden
carrier, which is desperately waiting for yet another dose of equity infusion from
the government, the clearance of $1,200 cr equity infusion from government is
definitely yet another good news.
Air India, which was kick-started in 1932, has a network of 33
destinations across the US, Europe, Canada, Far-East and South-East Asia, and
the Gulf. The airline's domestic network after the AI-Indian Airlines merger
covered 64 destinations. The airline's current fleet of 135 aircraft has a mix of
the wide-body B777s, B747s, A330s and the narrow body Airbus A321s,
A320s, A319s and the B737s. Official data released by the Ministry of Civil
Aviation for November 2010 revealed that the national carrier has occupied fourth
position with 17.1% domestic market share. While the private carrier Jet
Airways along with JetLite grabbed the top slot with 26.2% market
share, Kingfisher's market share was put at 19.1% and IndiGo's stood at 17.3%.
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