 "Air India's Mumbai take-offs face billboard hurdle")
The height of the hoardings near India's financial hub means the Boeing Co 777-300ER jets the carrier uses for non-stop flights to Newark, New Jersey, near New York City, must fly 51 fewer passengers, or 15 per cent below capacity, in order to clear these. That's costing Rs 100 million ($1.6 million) a month in lost revenue, India's junior aviation minister GM Siddeshwara told Parliament on Monday.
For Air India, which is surviving on a Rs 300-billion taxpayer bailout and hasn't made a profit since financial year 2006, the adjustment means further delays in eliminating losses. The billboards, some as high as a seven-story building, line the main road between Mumbai and the hub in a northwestern suburb.
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"This is a very serious issue," said Mohan Ranganathan, a former commercial pilot and aviation safety consultant based in Chennai, India, who added that signs high enough to represent an obstacle to aircraft would "violate" standards imposed by the International Civil Aviation Organization.
The 16-hour non-stop Newark service operated by Air India - the longest such direct flight by an Indian carrier - requires the twin-engine 777s to carry a high fuel load, so any weight savings must come in the form of fewer passengers. United Continental Holdings Inc., the only other carrier to fly nonstop between Mumbai and Newark, uses the smaller 777-200. The billboards don't affect United's operations or capacity, Mary Ryan, a spokeswoman for the Chicago-based carrier, said in an e-mail.
On the highway to the airport most of the hoardings are located on top of or between residential high-rises. While some of the tallest are to be found 12 kilometers (seven miles) from the hub, in a residential neighborhood two kilometers away, at least 15 billboards can be found along a 600-meter road - peddling an eclectic mix of affordable suburban homes, the latest Bollywood movies and deals on domestic flights.