‘AI can earn more from Surat sector’

Times of India: Surat: Thursday, 06 August 2015.

An RTI inquiry has exposed Air India's bias towards Surat vis-a-vis Vadodara over the issue for poor air connectivity.

While the airline makes profit with its 72-seater in Surat on the Surat-Delhi route, it fails to meet the required number on the Vadodara-Delhi route and registers a loss according to the report.

Surat's Tarun Chugh, an active member of the 'We Want Working Airport Surat' - a group striving for Surat's air connectivity had used Right to Information (RTI) Act and discovered that revenue per kilometer (RPK) for Surat-Delhi sector was Rs 6 against average cost of Rs 3.5 per km, which means the Air India earns Rs.2.5 per km.

This translates to about Rs.2,500 per passenger on a single flight. With an average load of 55 passengers, it earns Rs.12,500 on each flight (not to mention the last minute tickets which cost anywhere from Rs 15,000 to Rs 18,000), thus on each single day, Air India earns Rs 2.5 lakh on the Surat-Delhi route.

The RPK for the Vadodara-Delhi sector is Rs 1.75, which means Air India does a loss of Rs 1,385 per passenger flown on the route. Air India operates a 140 seater Air Bus A319, with 70% load factor. This amounts to a loss of Rs 1.4 lakh per flight on Vadodara sector. This means Rs 2.8 to Rs 3 lakh loss per day.

"The RTI inquiry has made it clear that Air India is not focused on profits ,and for reasons known only best to them, continues to ignore Surat sector capacity,'' said Chugh.