Even as reports of the government looking to sell Air India gain ground, the national carrier is expected to report an operating profit of close to Rs 300 crore for FY17, up from Rs 105 crore in 2015-16. Senior executives told FE passenger revenues grew to Rs 16,200 crore last year. This will be only the second year since the merger with Indian Airlines in 2007 that the airline will report an operating profit. It has not posted a net profit in a decade.

Air India’s performance has improved in the past two years but it has failed to meet critical targets set in a turnaround plan drawn up by the government.

The airline has principally failed to meet its target of bringing down the net loss to Rs 2,369 crore in 2016-17. The government in 2012 provided the airline a Rs 30,000 crore bailout on condition that it will meet specified operational milestones.

NEW DELHI: The CBI has initiated investigations into key decisions made on Air India when the United Progressive Alliance was in power, including the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines, purchase of 111aircraft by the national carrier and giving away of profitable routes to rival airlines.

The agency filed two cases on the aircraft purchase deal, another on giving away the routes and started a preliminary inquiry into the merger of the airlines. In a statement, the CBI said it started the probe following orders from the Supreme Court. Air India had put an order for 111aircraft — 68 from Boeing and the balance from Airbus.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju today expressed his concern over ‘poor’ financial condition of the airline and said that the government is mulling all options to revive India’s premiere airline, and that even privatisation is not exactly ruled out, an ANI report said. “Air India’s finances are very bad, impoverished part of Air India has to go, but we are looking at all alternatives to revive it,” the minister was quoted as saying by the agency.

Documents reviewed by Business Standard show that the Modi administration has been aggressively pumping money in a bid to resuscitate Air India’s fortunes. From August 2014, a couple of months after the Narendra Modi led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government assumed power, till March 2017, Rs 16822 crore have been infused into Air India from tax payer’s money. The first tranche of Rs 2000 crore was received by Air India in August 2014. Subsequently, six more payments totaling Rs 1947 crore were made from September 2014 to February 2015.

In 2014, barely two months after the Narendra Modi government took charge, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) called a meeting to discuss the possibility of Air India advancing its revival by two years and subsequently going in for a stake sale. Three years later, despite some improvements, the state-owned carrier continues to struggle financially and is unlikely to achieve its target of making a net profit in FY19.

Despite lower fuel prices and higher passenger numbers, accumulated debt stood at Rs 46,000 crore and in April the airline took loans to pay salaries to its 16,000 employees.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced that India's flag carrier Air India would begin direct flights between Colombo and the holy city of Varanasi from August.

Modi, who is on a two-day visit to Sri Lanka, made the announcement of the beginning of the flights during his address at the inauguration of the International Vesak Day, the biggest festival of Buddhists.

National carrier Air India will launch flights to three new destinations in the US as well as to Stockholm, Nairobi and Tel Aviv this year, its chief Ashwani Lohani said on Tuesday.

Making it the fifth non-stop destination in the United States, a direct service would start to Washington from July 7, followed by a flight to Los Angeles from September 1 and then to Dallas.

NEW DELHI: Air India has said that they will operate bigger Boeing 777 aircraft between Delhi and Chennai sector starting today to clear the summer rush during the holiday months.

“From today, our evening flight between Delhi and Chennai would be operated by a 300-seater Boeing 777. The flight will leave for Chennai in the evening and return to Delhi late in the night. We hope to fill our planes due to the summer travel rush that starts now,” said a senior Air India official, who did not want to be identified.

A Hong Kong-bound Air India flight from Mumbai via Delhi with 256 passengers on board was on Wednesday delayed by nearly three hours due to icing on the exterior parts of the aircraft.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane had flown in from sub-zero temperature and was scheduled for departure from the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport here at 7.45 pm.

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