Air India revenue rises 46 per cent in March on domestic performance

Air India, the state-owned carrier, posted a healthy 46 per cent revenue growth in March over the same period last year, riding on high yields and an increased passenger load factor.

"The yields on domestic sector had significant improvement of 38.5 per cent in March vis-a-vis last year. The seat factor during this period also increased nearly 7.9 per cent. Consequently, the airline posted a healthy growth in revenue of 46.1 per cent," the sources said.

The results come a week after the government approved the much-awaited turnaround plan and a financial restructuring plan involving a Rs 30,000-crore equity infusion over the next eight years and a debt recast (CDR) of Rs 21,200 crore.

On international routes too, the airline put up a good performance, clocking a nearly 33 per cent growth in passenger revenue. The higher growth came on the back of an 8 per cent jump in load factor and higher yields at 28 per cent.

"For the quarter ending March this year, the passenger revenue showed an improvement of 36.1 per cent, besides a 15.7 and 23 per cent rise in seat factor and yields respectively over the same period last year," the sources said.

On a cumulative basis, the revenue for 2011-2012 posted a growth of 13 per cent with load factor of 5.7 per cent, they said, adding that the yields were up nearly 10 per cent.

The financial restructuring plan would provide relief to Air India from its debt servicing obligations on working capital loans in the form of a substantial reduction in interest outlays, while giving it the necessary time to improve its operational efficiency.

With PTI inputs