Nine Indian Airlines planes grounded

At least nine out of 58 Indian Airlines planes are, at this moment, grounded for want of maintenance and repairs. That, approximately, means one out of every six planes belonging to the airline is not flying today.
But Indian Airlines has, actually, reasons to feel happy about. For, back in March this year, 15 of its planes were not flying. Two months ago, an airline spokesperson said, that number was 14.
All the grounded planes are A-320s, say officials. When an A-320 is grounded, the airline loses about Rs 4 crore in revenue every month. So nine A-320s grounded for a month means a loss of about Rs 36 crore. The spokesperson, however, countered the loss figure by saying seven of the 48 A-320s would not fly in normal circumstances.
But calculating the losses, admit industry insiders, is not so simple. Some of the A-320s the airline flies are leased and, the world over, there has been an upshot in lease rentals because of the growing demand for aircraft.
06/09/06 Manju V/Times of India

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