Soaring fuel bills and a steady drop in passenger demand are forcing India’s national carrier Air India to go in for cost-cutting measures.A decision to this effect is expected to result in Air India slashing a few services. Air India is mulling over cutting down loss-making routes and also putting a check on expenditures. Though the Civil Aviation Minsitry has not yet taken any step in this regard, it is expected that such initiatives to reduce losses would be announced soon. It has been pointed out that the national carriers of India are likely to clock a net loss close to Rs 2,144 crore during financial year 2007-08.

It is feared that if the oil prices continue to rise, India’s airline sector alone stands the chance of accounting for a third of the $6.1 billion global losses projected. Adding to the oil woes is the awfully sky rocketing inflation figures.  It is no wonder now that the Indian government is all set to take a drastic step toward cost reduction.

Meanwhile, parallel to all such talk of cost reduction initiatives doing the rounds, Air India’s low cost subsidiary, Air India Express, has kicked off regular Dhaka-Kolkata flights that will fly further to Bangkok or Singapore for three days in a week each. The services are available at discounted fares. Official sources said that Air India Express will operate six Dhaka-Kolkata and one Dhaka-Mumbai weekly flights with Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

Three of the Dhaka-Kolkata flights will fly to Bangkok after a short stopover at Kolkata and similarly the remaining three flights will travel to Singapore without change of aircraft.