Air India posts first cash profit in 2 years

Mumbai: Air India has managed to post cash profit at the operational level in its domestic business after almost two years.
Reviewing the performance of the national carrier, the Minister of Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel, said on Friday that on the domestic side, the airline has managed a cash profit of Rs 87 crore in the half-year ended September 30 against a cash loss of Rs 472 crore in the same time last year.
On the international side, Air India's cash loss has also gone down to Rs 500 crore from Rs 1,142 crore.
In the last six months, the airline's load factor increased by 5 per cent and its yield per passenger has gone up by 13 per cent, compared to same time last year.

Air India plans to revive Vayudoot

New Delhi: National Aviation Company of India Ltd (Nacil), which owns Air India, is planning to revive the defunct Vayudoot airline to improve connectivity to small towns and cities. It had earlier planned to sell the brand.
Delhi-based Vayudoot was launched as a subsidiary of erstwhile Indian Airlines in January 1981 to serve the northeast region. Vayudoot grew to operating in 100 stations across the country.
However, due to deep financial crises, Vayudoot was merged with Indian Airlines. It ceased operations in 1997 and the airline’s employees were absorbed by Indian Airlines or Air India.
In its new avatar, Vayudoot will be a feeder service bringing traffic from small towns to larger cities and state capitals and from there to other national and international destinations.
As part of the plan, Vayudoot will operate from states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and the northeast region, which have over 50 small airstrips or airports, mostly not in use.
The official added that the plan is to operate four types of aircraft depending on demand: 15-20 seat, 50-seat, 120-180 seat and 300-seat aircraft. Plans are being made to lease these aircraft and also to ascertain the cost of reviving the airline.

63 airports operating without license in country, says DGCA

Nagpur - As many as 63 airports in India, including those in Mumbai, Delhi, Kochi and Hyderabad, are being operated without a valid licence, Director General of Civil Aviation has told the Bombay High Court.

The Nagpur Airport is also among the defaulters who have not procured licence from DGCA, an affidavit filed by the civil aviation authority contended.

The affidavit was filed on Wednesday in the court of Justice Sharad Bobade and Justice Mridula Bhatkar in response to a PIL challenging transfer of Nagpur airport to MIHAN India Pvt Ltd (MIPL) from Airports Authority of India (AAI).

After receiving assurance from MIPL that till June 30, 2011, it will remove 25 deficiencies from the total 59 pointed out by the DGCA in regard to infrastructure and functioning of Nagpur airport, the court directed the DGCA to ensure this should be complied with within a month.

The court also directed DGCA to take further steps to issue licenses for running the airports.

Through a government notification, it has been made clear that no person would be able to operate scheduled air transport service to/from an aerodrome from June 30, unless it was licensed, DGCA said.