IA seeks US certificate for engineering services

Indian Airlines (IA) is looking for a Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) certification for its Jet Engine Overhaul Complex. The endorsement will enable the carrier to do engineering jobs for other airlines.

The process of FAA approval will take eight to nine months. This was announced in the annual general meeting (AGM) of IA.

The net loss of IA dipped 20.34 per cent to reach Rs 196.56 crore in 2002-03 compared with Rs 246.75 crore a year ago.

Operating losses also fell 39 per cent in the year to Rs 134.73 crore compared with Rs 220.65 crore in 2001-02. The airline attributed the reduction in losses to improved physical performance and strict cost control measures.

The total expenditure of the airline increased 4.5 per cent to Rs 4,310.79 crore in 2002-03 against Rs 4,124.03 in the previous year. Operating revenue went up 8 per cent from 3,769.91 crore in 2001-02 to 4,071.73 crore in 2002-03.

The airline's passenger load factor shot up 2.70 per cent in the last financial year, from 62.9 per cent in 2001-02 to 64.6 per cent.

The numbers of passengers carried went up 2.33 per cent from 5.525 million in 2001-02 to 5.654 million in 2002-03.

IA reported an 8.97 per cent growth in available tonne kilometre from 1200.315 million in 2001-02 to 1308.018 million in 2002-03.

The revenue tonne kilometre registered a 11.85 per cent expansion from 72.802 million to 82.617 million.

The on-time performance of IA rose to 77 per cent across the entire network compared with 60 per cent in 2000-01. The technical despatch reliability for the last financial year was 98.76 per cent compared with 98.55 per cent in 2001-02.

The despatch reliability of Airbus A320 fleet was 99.2 per cent higher than those of international airlines such as Lufthansa , Air France, United Airlines and Air Canada.

The shareholders were told at the AGM that in 2002-03, the airline introduced a new international route, Gaya-Bangkok and nine domestic routes.

Patna-Bagdogra, Patna-Guwahati, Guwahati-Lilabari, Kolkata-Gaya, Guwahati-Dimapur, Guwahati-Aizwal, Kolkata-Shillong, Agartala-Silchar, and Mumbai-Chandigarh.

A slew of marketing initiatives were taken up by the airline to match competition. IA introduced many fare packages and started a new-look passenger feed back system.