Air India cuts flights citing lower demand

Mumbai: Air India has withdrawn at least 25 flights across domestic and international sectors till June 15, citing lower demand.

“We are in a lean season. On a daily basis, Air India operates around 480 flights, of which 25-odd flights have been curtailed, in the sense they have been mixed with other flights on a route,” he said.

The airline has reduced the flights across both metros and tier-2 and -3 cities as well as on some international routes, he said.

Air India said flights would “come back to normal” after the 15th of this month.

Air India, which witnessed a pilots’ strike recently, had posted a net loss of Rs 55.5 billion  in 2009-10. It has not disclosed its latest annual results for 2010-11.

The airline was also in danger of being put on cash and carry mode by the Delhi and Hyderabad airports as it owed about 2.8 billion rupees to them.

GMR, operator of the two airports, however, later defered the cash and carry arrangement after working out a payment plan.  Under cash and carry it would not have been able to operate flights out of the airports until it cleared dues.

The carrier is also in discussions with banks for restructuring 200 billion rupees of debt and expects to complete the formalities by end-June.

Reuters