Air India losing Rs 3 crore daily due to closure of Pakistan airspace
Posted on 8th March 2019 |
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Air India is incurring a loss of around Rs 3 crore daily on its Europe, US flights due to the closure of Pakistan airspace, a senior airline official said on Thursday. Last Wednesday, Pakistan closed its airspace to all overflying flights forcing airlines from India and other nations to take a detour. This has led to increase in flight duration and has put a strain on Mumbai’s air traffic controllers, who are working extra shifts to handle the increase in traffic.
On Thursday, Pakistan civil aviation authority extended the closure for overflying flights by another day till Friday afternoon. Flights within and to Pakistan from overseas are operating for past few days.
Air India operates Boeing 777 aircraft on non-stop flights to New York, Newark, Chicago, Washington and San Francisco on 14-16 hour flights. It has 36 weekly departures from Delhi and Mumbai to the US which would transit the Pakistan airspace. The closure has resulted in change in routes - flights from Delhi now head South and enter the Omani and Iran airspace. This has led to an increase in flight duration by around two hours. The airline is also forced to make a halt in Sharjah for refuelling in both directions.
Air India operates flights to ten cities in Europe with its Boeing 787 planes. Their usual duration is 7.30-9 hours and it has now increased by additional 90 minutes as planes skip Pakistan airspace.
"There is an increase of around Rs 20 lakh in operating costs. We are incurring a loss of around Rs three crore daily because of Pakistan air space closure. The rise in costs is largely due to increase in fuel burn, ground handling charges at Sharjah and maintenance expenses. We have not cancelled a single flight and we will continue to operate the scheduled flights," a senior Air India executive.
Air India is now preparing to operate its US flights one stop via Birmingham or Vienna instead of Sharjah in case the Pakistan air space remains closed. This would enable it to optimise its crew utilisation providing them adequate rest period too. Its non stop flights and also the one via Sharjah now have a complement of 4 pilots and 15 crew members. Pilots and cabin crew duty time are governed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation regulations and the airline has secured waiver from the regulator for increase in duty hours due to the detour around Pakistan. The airline is planning to fly one stop via Europe and these flights would be manned by two pilots in each sector allowing the airline to better utilise its crew. |
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Bharti Airtel defers Q2 results till Nov 14 over ambiguity on AGR verdict
Posted on 29th October 2019 |
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Bharti Airtel said on Tuesday it has postponed its second-quarter earnings report to mid-November, as the wireless operator sought clarity on the court ruling asking telecom firms to cough up overdue payments to the government.
Shares of the company, which was expected to release its quarterly numbers later in the day, dropped 3.3 per cent in early trade. |
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Rupee slips 8 paise vs US dollar in early trade amid drop in oil prices
Posted on 7th October 2019 |
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The rupee on Monday opened eight paise lower at 70.96 against the US dollar amid drop in crude oil prices and rise in Asian equities. The domestic unit on Friday closed almost flat at 70.88 against after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in a widely expected move cut key interest rates by 0.25 percentage point. On a weekly basis, the local unit slumped by 32 paise. |
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LIC pips private insurers in first-year premium growth during April-August
Posted on 13th September 2019 |
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In the first five months of the current financial year, first-year premiums of life insurance companies grew by 39.84% (year-on-year) at Rs 1.05 lakh crore as compared to Rs 75,588.35 crore in April-August of 2018-19. Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) continued to grow at a faster pace compared to private insurance players, shows the data from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai). |
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Apollo Hospitals rules out further stake sale
Posted on 13th September 2019 |
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Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (AHEL) has ruled out further dilution of promoters’ stake in the company. The company also said its Rs 1,337-crore stake sale of Apollo Munich Health Insurance with mortgage major HDFC will be concluded by October. Following these stake sales, the promoters’ pledged position will come down from a high of 76% to 54% by October and eventually to 20% by November or December, company sources said here. |
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World trusts India on Kashmir, not us: Pakistan minister Ijaz Ahmed Shah
Posted on 13th September 2019 |
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In a major embarrassment for Pakistan and its Prime Minister Imran Khan, the country's Interior Minister Ijaz Ahmed Shah, a retired brigadier, said the international community didn't believe Pakistan's narrative on Kashmir; instead it is India whose version is trusted. |
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