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Air India seeks fare hike

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI MARCH 15. Expecting a boom in outbound traffic in the coming season, Air India is believed to have sought the Government's permission to increase passenger fares by five per cent.

Official sources said here that Air India had already sent a proposal in this regard to the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) seeking its clearance.

Sources said that a revamped summer schedule, an increase in its revenue, availability of more leased aircraft and a high load factor of more than 70 per cent were some of the reasons that had led to AI expecting a "vibrant outbound market'' in the summer season.

But the optimism of Air India notwithstanding, the Civil Aviation Minister, Shahnawaz Hussain, expressed the Government's unwillingness to go along with the proposal of fare increase at this juncture.

Close on the heels of imposition of fuel surcharge of $10 and $20 by some international airlines, Air India is also learnt to be toying with the idea of slapping a $2 surcharge on fares but no decision has been taken so far on it.

The Minister had undertaken a comprehensive review of the financial performance of Air India, its growth plans and budget targets in the coming fiscal.

He approved the "business plan'' of Air India at a meeting in Mumbai yesterday which incorporates "a massive growth of capacity'' of about 20 per cent over the current fiscal.

The average passenger seat factor of the airline during the past three months was close to 80 per cent, the best ever performance in recent years despite sluggish tourist arrivals and threat of war in Iraq.

Air India's plans of dryleasing two more Airbus A-310s during the next fiscal were also approved, sources said. There were plans to restructure flight schedules from April. The airline had started standardising the departure timings of flights from Delhi, Mumbai and Kochi to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Muscat on its short-haul operations and from Delhi and Chennai to Singapore on its South East Asia operations.

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