Increased passenger traffic puts AI on growth trajectory

An over 16 per cent growth in its passenger traffic helped national carrier Air India improve its ticket revenue by 8.4 per cent, which stood at Rs 1,500 crore in January over the period last year, an airline official said on Monday.

Meanwhile, the carrier has also lined up sumptuous Indian cuisines, named after popular cricketers, to cater to its passengers on its flights to Australia for ICC World Cup there.

Air India has clocked a higher seat factor on its both national and domestic network during this period as well, the official said.

After a long spell of losses, the national airline had returned to profitability in December 2014 with a net profit of Rs 14.6 crore in the month as against a loss of Rs 168.7 crore in December 2013, driven by a healthy growth in both passenger and cargo revenue. Saddled with a massive Rs 40,000 crore debt and combined losses of Rs 36,000 crore till last fiscal, the airline is surviving on a government bailout package, announced earlier.

“The airline registered major gains in January in terms of operational performance as compared to the same period in 2014.

“We on an average carried 16.7 per cent more passenger per day as 51,829 passengers on average boarded our flights,  44,420 passengers in January 2014,” the official said.

“This resulted in an 8.4 per cent increase in the passenger revenue to Rs 1,500 crore during the reporting month from Rs 1,384 crore in January 2014.”