Government of India refused to restart Amritsar-Delhi- Toronto Air India flight: Gumtala

AMRITSAR : Government of India has refused to resume Amritsar-Delhi- Toronto Air India flight which was shut down due to the strike by pilots of Air India on 8 May 2012. In a press statement, Dr. Charanjit Singh Gumtala, patron Amritsar Vikas Manch stated that he wrote a letter to prime minister Sh. Narinder Modi to restore this flight. After the withdrawal of the strike, Air India has resumed most of the international flights like New York, Chicago , Paris , Hong Kong and Shanghai etc. but not Amritsar-Delhi-Toronto flight. 90 percent Punjabis travel in this flight. Stopping the Amritsar-Toronto flight have been a great disaster and taken very badly by the people of Punjab. It has come as a jolt to Punjabi diaspora who dream of staying connected to their roots in Punjab. This flight gives the direct connection to the tourists and Punjabis to the Amritsar, the holy city of the Sikhs .It will be profitable if its route should be Delhi-Amritsar- Toronto.But in reply to his letter, ministry of civil aviation stated, “Air India withdrew flight operations on Amritsar—Delhi-Toronto vv route effective mid-May’12 since it has been incurring losses on this route. The flight was not able to meet cash cost of operation from the year 2010-11 to 2012-13 (Apr-May 2012). Currently Air India has no plan to start operations on Delhi-Toronto route.”Now question arises when Jet Airways Amritsar-Delhi-Brussel- Toronto flight is earning profit then why is Air India flight in loss? It means Air India does not have efficient administration. Air India was in profit in 2007. Air India lost money on 57 of its 59 international routes in the last fiscal year which ended March 31, 2014. The airline lost a whopping Rs 4,273.35 crores operating these international flights. Over half of the 59 international flights, 32 or 55%, did not even earn their direct out-of-pocket cash operating costs. The airline failed to generate enough revenue from these flights to cover even its basic cash operating expenses by Rs 575 crore forget the payback on the massive Rs 40,000 crore debt the airline is sitting on or the other overheads such as management expenses, ground and station staff expenses, etc. So if other similar flights running in loss can be operated, then why not this one? Air India went in loss due to bad policies. So Modi government should have efficient minister for civil aviation and professional personal instead of IAS officer as a chairman of Air India.