Question : Frequency of Flights of Air India

(a) whether the Air India has reportedly decreased its flights on the
profitable routes across the country during each of the last three years
and the current year, if so, the details thereof, route-wise;
(b) whether the instances of increase in frequency of flights by Air India
on nonprofitable routes have come to the notice of the Government
during the said period, if so, the details thereof, route-wise;
(c) whether the cases of violation of Route Dispersal Guidelines by Air
India have also come to the notice of the Government during the said
period, if so, the details thereof;
(d) the number of airports in the country which are yet to provide
connectivity by Air India flights,State/UT-wise; and
(e) the steps taken by the Government to make the non-profitable routes
of Air India profitable and to bring Air India out of its losses?

Minister of State in the Ministry of CIVIL AVIATION
(Dr Mahesh Sharma)

(a) & (b) : Government has laid down Route Dispersal Guidelines (RDG) with a view to achieving better regulation of air transport services taking into account the need of different regions of the country. The domestic air services in the country have been deregulated. It is up to the airlines to provide air services to specific places depending upon the traffic demand and commercial viability. The Scheduled domestic airlines are free to
operate anywhere within the country subject to compliance of RDG.

(c) : Examination of airline monthly traffic data reveals that Air India adheres to Route Dispersal Guidelines issued by the Government.

(d) : As per winter schedule, 2015, scheduled domestic airlines are operating from 80 airports within the country. The details regarding connectivity provided by Air India and its subsidiaries is at annexure.

(e) : The major steps taken to make the non- profitable routes of Air India profitable and to bring Air India out of its losses, are as follows:

i) Rationalization of certain loss making routes;

ii) Induction of new aircrafts on several domestic & international routes to increase passenger appeal;

iii) Phasing out of old fleet and consequential reduction in maintenance
cost;

iv) Curtailment of overtime and certain staff perks and relocation of
officers from abroad to India.

v) Closure of overseas offline officers at certain locations;

vi) Introduction of PSS (Passenger Service System) to have single code
and System Application Products Enterprise Resource Planning (SAP
ERP) based solutions throughout the organization in terms of increase in
revenue and decrease in Cost.