IA hopes to net Rs 100-cr profit this year

New Delhi: Riding the low fare-fuelled boom in air travel market, the state-owned Indian Airlines has projected to earn its highest-ever profit this fiscal with the bottomline set to soar past the Rs 100 crore mark in 2006-07.
The airline, in its initial earnings projections for 2006-07, has stated that a growth in passenger carriage coupled with introduction of new routes and a string cost-cutting exercise will help Indian end the fiscal with a net profit well above Rs 100 crore, as against an estimated profit of Rs 69 crore in 2005-06.
Indian is also expecting its fuel bill to grow by Rs 350 crore this year, following the recent hike in ATF prices. Its fuel bill stood at Rs 1,500-1,600 crore in the previous year.
With the airline cruising deeper into the profit zone, Indian Airlines chairman and managing director Vishwapati Trivedi said, efforts are now being initiated to spread wings, both in the domestic and international skies.
21/05/06 Byas Anand/Times of India

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline