Airlines Deals

INDIAN national carriers operating from Doha are likely to increase their seating capacities by early next year, a top airline official said yesterday.

Speaking to Gulf Times, Thiruvalloor Vinod Kumar, country manager of Indian said India’s airline sector is expected to gain significantly from the merger of Indian and Air-India, scheduled for March 2007.

“Benefits from the merger would be manifold and both the Indian airline industry and passengers would have numerous advantages once the procedures are completed,” said Kumar. Besides avoiding the duplication of services seen at present in some sectors, it would also help considerably increase the seating capacities, he said. “Also, the move would help the airline cut fuel costs.”

Kumar said that with the merger, the airline would have a combined strength of over 100 aircraft. “It would help us overcome many of our present hurdles and we would be able to honour a number of bilateral agreements that India has made with civil aviation authorities in some Far East Asian countries and Europe.” Indian would be able to operate new services to destinations in Europe, especially Germany, Hong Kong and Beijing.

After the merger, the new company would be able to compete much better with private airlines, he said.

Kumar said with Indian acquiring the first of its new aircraft in November, things would change considerably for India-bound passengers from Qatar.

“From November, we would start taking possession of at least one new aircraft every month in the next three years,” he said. Indian has placed an order for 46 aircraft with Airbus.

The official said he has already asked the head office to explore the possibility of running daily services to Mumbai and Chennai once the new aircraft start arriving.

“As of now, owing to the shortage of equipment, Indian is unable to meet the ever increasing requirements of passengers on the Doha -India sector,” he admitted. He said he is optimistic of the introduction of new services to the two cities next year.

Kumar, who has completed his stint of more than three years in Doha, is leaving the country shortly. He has been promoted as deputy general manager (commercial) at the Indian Airlines Training College in Hyderabad, his home city.

Talking about the revenues from Qatar, Kumar said the airline carried more than 22,000 passengers on its daily Kozhikode-Kochi schedule in 2005-06.

“It was our all-time record from Qatar,” he said. On its Bahrain-Doha-Kozhikode-Kochi daily flight, only 60 seats are allotted to Doha. Compared to the previous year, there was a growth of 8.5% in revenues. While 2003-04 was a lean year, operations in 2004-05 saw a 13.5% growth, he recalled.

Kumar said by the end of 2009, the company would have phased out all its old aircraft and the new environment would give the airline a much better image. “It would not only be the issue of a new brand image, the acquiring of new aircraft would perhaps also give a new identity to India’s airline sector.”

With the commencing of operations by new aircraft starting from November, Indian would be able to introduce in-flight entertainment, said Vinod Kumar.

While agreeing that India’s national carriers could not do much to promote tourism from the Middle East, Kumar said, the private had a more important role to play.

“None, it seems, has explored the enormous potential of India’s health tourism among the nationals of the GCC states,” he said. There are a number of medical institutions of international standards in India, he pointed out. “Qualitatively, they can provide unparalleled services to the visitors and costs would also be very low compared to the expenses elsewhere.”

Indian’s airport manager R Ravishankar will be in charge of the Doha office until a new country manager takes over.