The ailing Air India hopes to shore up its revenues by launching low-cost operations in high-density sectors which may include some of the busiest routes across the country,such as Delhi-Mumbai. The airline may start its low-cost operations on the Delhi-Mumbai route. Some capacity will be transferred from the existing domestic operations on to this route, said Air India executive director Jitender Bhargav. While the airline has almost identified certain high-density sectors,it is finalising the appropriate time slots at which the low-cost operations could take place. It is also exploring the north-eastern sector where low-cost travel could be offered. The announcement is likely to be made by September-end,coinciding with the festival season. The airline is under considerable strain as its losses are mounting and the aviation scenario is deteriorating due to dipping passenger traffic. The airline is likely to deploy its older fleet on these routes,said Bhargav. Air India had earlier announced its plans to launch domestic low-cost operations through its international low-cost arm,Air India Express. The carrier will launch its low-cost domestic operations with 27 per cent of the domestic capacity from mid-September and increase it to 80 per cent later. This will improve our bottomline. We expect to benefit by Rs 180-200 crore, Arvind Jadhav had said earlier. The airline currently offers between 37,000 and 40,000 seats daily on the domestic sector. The low-cost services will be started with 10 aircraft. These measures are part of the turnaround plan that the company has chalked out for itself to come out of the red and increase revenues. Low-cost flying has become the new buzzword in the aviation industry as flyers turn to lower fares after a global slowdown hit the industry and pulled down traffic figures. Currently,low-cost carriers carry 53 per cent passenger load on the domestic sector. Internationally too,low-cost flying has seen an upsurge as carriers like Air Arabia,Lion Air and the UAE government-backed Fly Dubai have entered the market.
