Air India allocates Rs 500 crore for the operation of grounded aircraft

To meet the high demand and raise its market, national carrier Air India has earmarked Rs 500 crore to get 19 of its grounded passenger jets back into operations.

Currently, the national passenger carrier has 19 aircraft grounded due to various reasons most prominent amongst them being expensive spare parts and engine overhauls.

However, an increase in demand due to the peak travel season along with industry’s capacity constraint has led the airline to earmark at least Rs 500 crore for the grounded fleet.

“This is an opportune time to raise our market share and meet the healthy demand. All our assets (aircraft) have been deployed strategically. But we still have more aircraft which are grounded,” a senior Air India official told IANS from Mumbai.

“We expect at least two aircraft to join the fleet within days. Addition of other aircraft will aide us to augment our market share.”