ICPA writes to Air India over grounding of aircrafts

Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) has raised serious concerns with management of Air India over the 'sorry state of affairs' of the aircrafts operated by the carrier. The association also stated that almost 23% of the Air India fleet is grounded for lack of spares.

"It is disheartening to note the sorry state of the aircraft operated by Air India and the lack of maintenance for want of spares, planning, coordination and finance," the ICPA said in its letter.

The letter further stated that out of the 20 Airbus A-321 aircrafts operated by Air India only 12 are available for operation on a daily basis as 40% of the fleet is grounded at various stations for lack of spares, which in turn leads to significant loss of revenue owing to the high seating capacity of the aircraft.

Citing the grounding of 23% of the Air India fleet, the ICPA lamented that aircraft worth approximately 3.6 billion USD or approximately 25,000 crores INR are lying idle in the hangar.

"A significant number of flights are getting canceled/rescheduled on a daily basis. There are also aircraft fleet swaps which result in last minute change of inventory resulting in non-optimal revenue management and utilisation," the letter further read.

"Since we are an airline and our primary business is to fly planes and since we have incurred huge debt to procure aircraft, with impossible to pay interest, is there any reason why these

aircraft continue to remain grounded?" questioned the ICPA.

Stating that the overall state of affairs has a significant impact on the bottom-line of Air India, the ICPA also asked if the airline's management is unable to prioritize expenditure.