Breather for Air India as losses down to Rs 5,547.47 cr

New Delhi: National carrier Air India has reduced its net loss by more than a quarter to Rs 5,547.47 crore in the previous fiscal as compared to a net loss of Rs 7,559.74 crore in FY12, government said today.[caption id=“attachment_2323806” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Cutting losses. PTI[/caption] Air India has achieved the target set out in the Turn Around Plan (TAP), and has made substantial progress in both operational as well as financial areas, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Minister Mahesh Sharma told Lok Sabha today. The main areas in which the company has registered improvements in FY15 in comparison to fiscal 2011-12 include seat factor, network yield, revenue from passengers and on-time performance on the operational side, he said. The airline has also seen lower operating and net loss during the period, the minister said. Since the implementation of TAP/Financial Restructuring Plan (FRP), the operating loss has reduced from Rs 5,138.69 crore in the fiscal 2011-12 to Rs 2,171.40 crore in the year ended 31 March 2015, and the net loss has come down to Rs 5,547.47 crore in 2014-15 from 7,559.74 crore in 2011-12, the minister said. The erstwhile UPA dispensation had in April 2012 approved Air India’s turnaround plan and a financial restructuring plan, with a committed public funding of Rs 30,231 crore, staggered over a period of nine years, with some specific riders. The seat factor has improved to 73.1 percent in 2014-15 from 67.9 percent in FY 15 whereas the network yield stood at Rs 4.35 revenue passenger kilometer (RPKM) in the period as against Rs 3.74 RPKM in fiscal 2011-12. Besides the number of revenue passengers also increased to 16.9 million in FY15 from 13.4 million in FY 12, he said. The overall network OTP delivered during the previous fiscal stood at 72.7 percent as against 67.6 percent in 2011-12, Sharma said. On the financial performance, besides reducing operating and net loss during the period, the carrier has turned EBITDA (earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) positive by Rs 541.6 crore in FY 15 as against a negative EBIDTA of Rs 2,236.95 crore in 2011-12, he said. The total revenue also rose by 33.25 percent to Rs 19,781 crore in the last fiscal as compared to Rs 14,713.81 crore in FY12, he said. There has been, however, a nominal increase in the aircraft maintenance cost, which during 2014-15 stood at Rs 1,145 crore as compared to Rs 830.81 crore on 2011-12, the minister said. PTI