National carrier Air India has suffered loss or incurred expenses to the tune of Rs 215.24 crore between April 2012 and November 15 this year because of delay or cancellation of flights, Lok Sabha was informed today.
Loss or expenses incurred by Air India on account of delayed and cancelled flights for 2012-13 stood at Rs 43.97 crore while the same for 2013-14 were 63.64 crore, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma said in response to a question.
In 2014-15, loss or expenses incurred by the national carrier on this account stood at Rs 77.44 crore, and till November this year the same was Rs 30.19 crore, the minister said.
He said that all possible steps have been taken to ensure on-time performance of Air India flights.
The OTP is being monitored at the highest level within Air India on daily basis, he said, adding a video conference is anchored by Integrated Operation Control Centre to review the previous day's performance and process improvements wherever possible.
The Ministry also regularly monitors the OTP of Air India, he added.
Responding to another question on the national carrier, Sharma said that Air India has carried out recruitment exercise to fill up posts of cabin crew and a total of 533 cabin crew have been selected on put on training.
These recruitments have been made on a five-year fixed terms contracts, which is extendable up to another five years depending upon certain conditions.
To a question on Air India's financial performance, the minister said that Air india is targeting an operating profit of Rs 6.20 crore as per the budget estimates for the current fiscal.
Responding to a question on national Aviation University near Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh, Sharma said the varsity is scheduled to commence its academic session in 2016-17.
