Air India’s focus on fill more, fly more has helped improve efficiency: Lohani

He said oil prices going down and introduction of more flights have helped the company to make an operating profit

GN Bureau | September 12, 2016


#Air India   #pro-employee   #Ashwani Lohani   #more flights  

 Ashwani Lohani, chairman and managing director of Air India Ltd, believes in a hands-on approach at work as he tries to turn around the money-losing national carrier.

In an interview to Mint, Lohani said a pro-employee policy and a simple focus on fill more and fly more has helped improve operational efficiency and he intends to do more of the same.
 
He said that it’s a culmination of a lot of things that the company is doing like - improve staff morale, improve services, become more efficient, launch more commercial packages, fly more and make it more attractive (for passengers), in order to restore the lost glory of Air India.
 
He said that though the actual number of profit will be reflected only after the accounts are audited on September 15. Fundamentally, it’s an operating profit. He said oil prices going down and introduction of more flights have helped the company.
 
Lohani also said that the company is trying to get a lot of private business. “We have started doing work for Jet (Airways India Ltd), (and are) in touch with SpiceJet (Ltd) and other domestic airlines for doing their maintenance work.”
 
On his expectations of turning profit, Lohani said, “I can’t say anything about that right now. We have got huge debt on our books and debt servicing itself is one of the major challenges. The cost of servicing the debt itself is Rs4,000 crore every year. What we are looking at is to earn enough to service it. It’s a burden of the past.”
 

Comments

 

Other News

India faces critical shortage of skin donors amid rising burn cases

India reports nearly 70 lakh burn injury cases every year, resulting in approximately 1.4 lakh deaths annually. Experts estimate that up to 50% of these lives could be saved with adequate access to skin donations.   A significant concern is that around 70% of burn victims fall wi

Not just politics, let`s discuss policies too

Why public policy matters Most days, India`s loudest debates stop at the ballot box. We can name every major leader and recall every campaign slogan. Still, far fewer of us can explain why a widow`s pension is delayed or how a government school`s budget is actually approved. That

When algorithms decide and children die

The images have not left me, of dead and wounded children being carried in the arms of the medics and relatives to the ambulances and hospitals. On February 28, at the start of Operation Epic Fury, cruise missiles struck the Shajareh Tayyebeh school – officially named a girls’ school, in Minab,

The economics of representation: Why women in power matter

India’s democracy has grown in scale, but not quite in balance. Women today are active participants in elections, influencing outcomes in ways that were not as visible earlier. Yet their presence in legislative institutions continues to lag behind. The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam was meant to addres

India will be powerful, not aggressive: Bhaiyyaji

India is poised to emerge as a global power but will remain rooted in its civilisational ethos of non-aggression and harmony, former RSS General Secretary Suresh `Bhaiyyaji` Joshi has said.   He was speaking at the launch of “Rashtrabhav,” a book by Ravindra Sathe

AI: Code, Control, Conquer

India today stands at a critical juncture in the area of artificial intelligence. While the country is among the fastest adopters of AI in the world, it remains heavily reliant on technologies developed elsewhere. This paradox, experts warn, cannot persist if India seeks technological sovereignty.


Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter