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. |