Air India may seek 65-70 crore compensation for Kolkata mishap

Government-owned Air India may seek Rs 65-70 crore compensation from Jet Airways for the damage suffered by one of its aircraft in the last week's incident at Kolkata airport, sources said today.

A Jet Airways tarmac coach had on December 21 rammed into an Alliance Air stationary ATR aircraft, at Kolkata's NSCB airport, resulting in substantial damage to the plane.

The regional arm of national carrier Air India, Alliance Air has a fleet of 12 aircraft, comprising ATRs and Canadian Regional Jets (CRJs).

Alliance Air is assessing the damage to aircraft and revenue loss suffered due to the grounding of the plane and once the exercise is completed, it would serve a notice on Jet Airways, sources told PTI.

"A team from ATR has already completed inspection and has, prima facie, found substantial damage to aircraft. However, its report is awaited. Besides, our insurers (of Air India and Jet Airways) are also carrying out survey to assess the damage," Air India sources said.

Public sector insurers New India Insurance and Oriental Insurance Company are carrying out the survey for Air India and Jet Airways respectively, they said.

Based on reports, the legal notice for recovery of losses will be sent, they said adding "preliminary assessment suggests it should be to the tune of Rs 65-70 crore."

Alliance Air operates 32 flights per day to 29 regional routes including Agatti, Bhuj, Car Nicobar, Dehradun, Diu, Dharamshala, Durgapur, Kullu, Pantnagar, Port Blair, Rajkot, Shillong, Silchar, Surat, Vijayawada, Vizag and Tezpur from its bases across Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Mumbai.