Air India claims improvement in revenue

During April–November this year, Air India recorded network revenue of Rs 7,250 crore as against Rs 5,911 crore achieved during the corresponding period last year, reflecting a growth of 22 per cent, a company statement said here.

The board is likely to review the airline's overall performance at a meeting in Mumbai tomorrow.

Out of the total network revenue, Rs 4,401 crore was recorded on international flights this year compared to Rs 3,801 crore last year, showing a gain of 15.8 per cent.
Network revenue on domestic flights also jumped 35 per cent from Rs 2,110 crore in April-November 2009 to Rs 2,849 crore this year, the statement said.

"The results are very encouraging and reflect the commitment of our employees. We have just begun the turnaround journey and we have a long way to go," Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav was quoted as saying in the statement.

It said that the yield per revenue passenger kilometre on the airline's network rose by 12.2 per cent during the period.

It increased by 8.7 per cent on the international route network and by 14 per cent in the domestic network. Revenue passenger kilometre measures the earnings from a passenger in terms of the distance flown.

The airline registered an overall passenger load factor of 66.3 per cent between April and November, up from 63.1 per cent a year ago.

On the international network, the passenger load factor increased to 65 per cent from 62.2 and on its domestic network, it grew to 70.4 per cent from 66.2, the statement said.

During this period, the number of passengers carried by Air India went up 13.3 per cent – from 7.99 million in 2009 to 9.05 million this year, it said, adding that the overall passenger load factor rose to 66.3 per cent from 63.1 a year ago.