With profits soaring, Air India to expand wings with new flights

After announcing operational profits of Rs105 crore (performance improvement) for the fiscal year 2015-16, Air India is now set to widen its network in both the international and domestic sectors. Setting itself a target of recruiting around 400 pilots, the national carrier will now add around 25 narrow-body aircraft to its fleet. Moreover, in the year 2017, the airline will be adding six additional international sectors and 30 new domestic connections focusing on regional connectivity.

Calculating from December 2015 onwards, Air India has come up with four new flights a year by announcing a direct service to Madrid. In the coming year, it plans to come up with six wide-body aircraft, apart from the 25 narrow-body aircraft, of which 10 will be ATRs and the remaining would be in the Airbus 320 category.

The airline aims to have 16 aircraft in 2017. All these were ordered a few years ago, but are to be delivered and used starting next year. According to the chairman and managing director of Air India, Ashwani Lohani, six new international connections will commence in the year 2017, apart from around 24 domestic connections, keeping in mind the plan of greater regional connectivity.

A few of the new connections that are under active consideration include direct flights from the national capital of New Delhi to Stockholm and to Toronto via Birmingham. According to senior officials from the airline, a team of officials had even visited places like Israel and Nairobi to examine the feasibility of operating flights there. Mr Lohani said, “We would require around 400 recruitments of both pilots and cabin crew to commence our new services.”