21 February,2011 07:02 AM IST | | Bipin Kumar Singh
Civil Aviation Minister takes note of allegations that AI ceased operations to benefit private airlines
Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi has taken serious note of allegations made by Air India employees' unions that the national carrier stopped its operations on profitable international and domestic routes to benefit private airlines.
Unions have alleged that Air India and Indian Airlines were merged to allow a private player to fly in the Middle East
A highly-placed source in the ministry said the minister has asked for a detailed report on reasons that prompted the national carrier to stop its operations on the controversial routes.
"The minister has takenu00a0 cognisance of the issue raised by different unions which claim that Air India stopped its operations on profitable international and domestic routes such as Colombo and Los Angeles to benefit private carriers," said a senior aviation official.
The civil aviation minister, who has declared that he wants to bring the loss-makingu00a0 national carrier back on track, recently met office-bearers of Air India's different unions which brought the issue to his notice. Assuring the union leaders, he said,u00a0 "I will look into the issue in due course."
During his recent visit
to Mumbai, when a journalist asked Ravi whether disinvestment was a cure for the ailing airline, the minister ruled out the possibility. "Are you representing some corporate house? You should know who you are speaking to," he shot back.
Speaking to MiD DAY, a senior union leader who met the aviation minister recently, on condition of anonymity, said, "We raised the issue of Air India and Indian Airlines' merger, which was done only to benefit private airlines on the most profitable Middle East route.
u00a0
Only two airlines from any country are allowed to operate on this coveted route and the merger created a slot for private players to operate. We also discussed the suspension of operations on the profitable Colombo route."
Load Factor
Air India withdrew its flights on 32 profitable routes in the last two years, even though these routes maintained a good load factor cargo and passengers carried ufffdu00a0 of 80 per cent to 100 per cent.
Despite repeated attempts,u00a0 Civil Aviation minister Vayalar Ravi was not available for comment.
Fast facts
According to a recent DGCA report: Air India has operated far less number of domestic and international flights last year than its private competitors.
Jet Airways and its subsidiary, JetLite, operated 1,42,101 flights followed by Kingfisher Airlines, which operated 1,20,362 flights, leaving AI at the third spot with only 1,01,352 flights.
In terms of market share also, the national carrieru00a0 slipped to the fourth rank behind Jet Airways, Kingfisher and IndiGo.
