Air-India net seen down 83%

Air India (A-I) is expected to register a net profit of around Rs 15 crore for 2004-05, a decline of more than 83 per cent from the previous year's net profit of Rs 92.33 crore due to the global oil price shock, Amod Sharma, director, corporate affairs, A-I, said here today.

India's international carrier had to bear an addition cost of Rs 500 crore due to the rising oil price.

Sharma said Air-India might also lose about Rs 340 crore on account of royalty due to the several bilateral air agreements that the Government of India is getting into.

But despite global and regional constraints, Air-India has register a profit, he said.

Meanwhile, with the introduction of the new Delhi-Dhaka-Kolkata-London flight, A-I has now a total of 24 flights per week to United Kingdom "" 21 to London and 3 to Birmingham.

"A-I has registered 100 per cent growth in services on the India-UK route over the last 15 months. The sector has a market size of over 1.7 million," said Jitendra Bhargava, director-public relations.

With the introduction of the new flight where London will be a terminating destination unlike the past, the carrier is expecting to increase its market share significantly "" which at present is about 20 per cent.

Bhargava said the India-UK route has contributed around Rs 1,000 crore to the airline's total revenue that is expected to be around Rs 7,435 crore in 2004-05.

Ashvini K Sharma, regional director, UK and Europe, said, "We have registered a revenue of Rs 370 crore in 2004-05, significantly higher from Rs 190 crore three years back from the India-UK sector."

(The correspondent's trip was sponsored by Air-India)