Airlines Deals

Low cost carrier Air India Express finds itself with planes, but not enough pilots. The pilots seem to have flown away. The scarcity has gone so far as to stain parent Air India’s balance sheet, reports CNBC-TV18.

Air India Express pilots, or the lack of them, seem to be grounding profits. The airline more than doubled its fleet strength to seven aircrafts from three. But it could not increase the number of its destinations.

When it had three planes, last year, it flew to 36 Indian locations, now with twice as many aircrafts; it has added just two more destinations. That’s because it simply does not have the pilots to fly its aircrafts. Air India officials admit that a scarcity of pilots is showing on the financials.

Chairman, Air India, V Thulasidas said, “The loss cannot be quantified since we have an operational profit. But the profits could have certainly been more if we had operated.”

Separately, at parent company Air India, profits are plummeting. Sources say that profits could be about Rs 15 crore, down from Rs 97 crore that it posted last year. That’s partly because of Air India Express.

Chairman, Air India, V Thulasidas says, “It has to be marginal, the overall costs and the cost of oil has increased, we had to incur one-third more costs.”

Air India’s load factor has also dipped in the first half of the year. But it is confident that a new fleet will help it to regain market share.