• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Ambar Singh Roy

KOLKATA, Oct. 2

INDIAN Airlines (IA) has entered into an arrangement with Hahn Air of Europe in terms of which the latter will sell IA seats on their tickets. The idea behind the initiative was to capture traffic in the source markets, Mr Anil Goyal, Commercial Director of IA, told Business Line during a recent visit to the city.

Hahn Air runs a network in more than 40 countries across the globe. IA is working towards ensuring a "stronger representation in overseas markets." This would greatly facilitate attracting traffic from source markets. Mr Goyal said proper representation in foreign markets could well translate into additional revenue of Rs 50 crore per annum for the airline.

Several other steps were being taken to augment market share from the present level of around 45 per cent, a figure that is akin to the airline's capacity share in the domestic aviation sector. IA's average passenger load factor has been pegged at around 60 per cent.

Some new connections have been planned while others are being looked into. These include flights between Guwahati and Lilabari, Gaya and Bangkok, Bagdogra and Kathmandu and between Lucknow and Dubai. The flight linking Guwahati and Lilabari is scheduled to commence from October 9, while the Gaya-Bangkok service is likely to take off later this month.

The number of flights on domestic metro routes would also be increased in the winter schedule. Frequencies on trunk routes - on sectors such as Mumbai-Chennai, Delhi-Chennai, Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Bangalore and Mumbai-Hyderabad - that were curtailed earlier would be reinstated. Additional flights would be deployed on the Delhi-Lucknow, Delhi-Srinagar, Mumbai-Bhubaneswar-Raipur and Mumbai-Jamnagar-Bhuj sectors. To facilitate these initiatives, the airline would obtain on lease three or four Airbus A320 aircraft. Focus was also being laid on increased capacity utilisation of the existing aircraft fleet.

"New marketing initiatives such as the Apex fare, tie-ups with hotels for packages and short-term promotional plans are necessary to increase market share. This is especially important in view of the fact that while capacity in the domestic sector has gone up by about 20 per cent per year in the last three years, the market has gone up by just nine per cent cumulatively."

Revenue generation from cargo has been pegged at 10-11 per cent of the total revenue that is generated. It has lately been affected on account of the general economic slowdown.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail
Comment on this article to BLFeedback@thehindu.co.in

Stories in this Section
Jagson Air plans to acquire 6-10 small aircraft

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line