rediff.com: IA to introduce Kolkata-Hong Kong flights; lease aircraft

In a bid to make its presence felt in the international sector, Indian Airlines has planned to introduce Kolkata-Hong Kong flights and increase those to Bangkok, Yangon and Kathmandu covering the Buddhist circuit.

"We will start these flights as soon as possible," IA regional director (East) Vikram Badshah said in Kolkata on Friday. There were tremendous prospects in the region, which needed to be properly tapped, he added.

"We have definite plans of going to Hong Kong. It will be the first direct Kolkata-Hong Kong flight," he said. The proposal had already been forwarded to the authorities.

Asked when the flight was likely to be introduced, Badshah said it depended on a number of issues because an international flight concerned bilateral aspects.

He, however, said that IA was quite eager to start the service as it had good prospects and "preferably we will start with two flights a week."

The airlines is also considering introduction of Patna-Yangon, Gaya-Bangkok and Bagdogra-Kathmandu flights to tap the highly prospective tourist traffic to the Buddhist circuit, Badshah said.

On the domestic front, the airlines was planning to introduce a third flight between Kolkata and Mumbai.

He said that the aviation industry had gone through bad times recently with the domestic market shrinking by 7 to 10 per cent due to number of factors, including the overall slowing down of the economy.

However, the sluggish growth in the sector did not have much effect on the eastern sector, he added.

In a major move to expand its fleet, Indian Airlines has decided to acquire 43 aircraft over the next five years at an estimated cost of Rs 100.89 billion.

The IA Board of Directors recently approved and recommended to the Centre that 43 aircraft be acquired from 2003-04 through to 2007-08, the Badshah informed.

Badshah told newsmen that most of the new aircraft would replace present ones and was aimed at further strengthening the existing fleet.

IA, which has been losing market share to private domestic carriers in recent years, said it would drylease six Airbus A-320 commercial jets and four 50-seater ATR-42 turboprop planes by the summer of 2003.

"Four Airbus A-320s should be in the system this winter and the remaining two by next summer. The four ATR-42s should be in by early next year," Badshah said.

In March, the carrier, which has 57 aircraft in its fleet, finalised a proposal to buy 43 aircraft from Airbus at a cost of $2.1 billion over five years. The proposal is waiting government approval.

Badshah said the A-320s would be put on routes that IA's ageing Airbus A-300s currently fly. "The ATR-42s will be largely used on the northeastern routes."

IA currently has 36 A-320s, seven A-300s and 11 Boeing 737-200s and three Dornier 228s in its fleet. The average age of IA's A-300s is 17-18 years and several Boeings are older.

The state-run carrier operates a number of government-mandated flights to India's remote and backward northeast and most of the routes in the region are loss-making.

Loss-making IA's marketshare fell to below 50 per cent in the year ending March 2002 from around 55 per cent in the previous year. It says passenger traffic dipped 7.0-10 per cent last year, due to India's economic slowdown and the fallout of the September 11 attacks in the United States.

India's private Jet Airways and Air Sahara, with their latest Boeing 737-series aircraft and aggressive marketing, have hit IA's passenger base, especially corporate travellers and holiday traffic.

The state-run airline's estimated loss for the year ending 2002 is around Rs 2.5 billion.



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