Air India reduces Delhi-Moscow flight frequency

National carrier Air India said on Monday it has reduced the frequency of its Delhi-Moscow flight from four times a week to twice a week from Feb 25, 2015.

According to Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma, the airline has done so as the revenue was not meeting operational costs.

The flag carrier had restarted its services to Moscow last July after a gap of 15 years.

Air India has also recently withdrawn some of services on Ahmedabad-Mumbai and Delhi-Dhaka-Delhi routes.

According to the minister, Air India has recently taken various initiatives to increase the flight occupancy and curtail loss-making operations.

"Air India continually monitors the financial performance of services on its network and makes efforts to improve their performance," Sharma informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

"Whenever any services give rise to cash losses, AI analyses the reasons for the losses and based on the strategic importance of such services to its network, arrives at a decision whether to continue or withdraw such services."