Air India performs better, losses come down

The total revenue increased from Rs 14,713.81 crore in 2011-12 to Rs 20,606.27 crore in 2014-15.

Air India's net losses have declined by more than 22 per cent in the past four years, reflecting improvement in its financial and operational performance, Lok Sabha was informed on Thursday.

Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said the operating loss has consistently declined since the merger of erstwhile Indian Airlines and Air India and stood at Rs 2,636.10 crore (Rs 26.36 billion) in 2014-15 compared to Rs 5,138.69 crore (Rs 51.38 billion)  in 2011-12.

"The net loss in 2014-15 is Rs 5,859.91 crore (Rs 58.59 billion) as against the loss of Rs 7,559.74 crore (Rs 75.59 billion) in 2011-12, which is a reduction by 22.5 per cent," he said during Question Hour.

The total revenue increased from Rs 14,713.81 crore (Rs 14.713 billion) in 2011-12 to Rs 20,606.27 crore (Rs 206.06 billion) in 2014-15, which is Rs 5,892.46 crore (Rs 58.92 billion) or an increase of 40.1 per cent, the Minister said.

He said Air India has turned EBIDTA (earnings before interest, depreciation, taxes and amortization) positive by Rs 337.77 crore (Rs 3.37 billion) as against a negative EBIDTA of Rs 2,236.05 crore (Rs 22.36 billion) in 2011-12.

While its Passenger Load Factor improved to 73.7 per cent in 2014-15 from 67.9 per cent in 2011-12, Raju said Air India has shown considerable improvement in on-time performance (OTP) and the overall network OTP achieved during 2014-15 was 72 per cent as against 68.2 per cent in 2011-12.

The Minister also said the national carrier's total revenue in 2014-15 was Rs 20,606.27 crore (Rs 206.06 billion) and expenses Rs 26,466.18 crore (Rs 264.66 billion).

In the current financial year between April-September 2015, the total revenue stood at Rs 9,485 crore (Rs 94.85 billion) and expenses Rs 11,776.19 crore (Rs 117.76 billion).