Cash-strapped Air India had spent nearly
Rs. 41 crore in a year in maintaining its offices in 11 cities across globe even though it does not have any operations from these locations.
The Air India in an RTI reply has accepted it has offices in Los Angles, Amsterdam, Milan, Vienna, Zurich,
Moscow, Cairo, Tehran, Nairobi, Sydney and Chittagong but does not have flight operations at these locations.
The state-owned airlines said it also has offline offices at Brussels, Copenhagen and Beirut which are in the process of being closed.
The aviation company said it had "never" operated any flight from six destinations including Milan, Vienna, Zurich, Copenhagen, Brussels and Chittagong but was maintaining its offices there. In the rest of the destinations, there are no flight operations currently but it had operated in the past.
In a question seeking reasons for maintaining these offices, Air India said it has "code sharing agreement with other Airlines in Los Angles, Vienna, Zurich and Moscow. Hence it is essential to be represented in these cities to sell and service the passengers who travel on code-shared flights."
The aviation company, however, did not give any reasons for maintaining rest of the offices.
The RTI reply shows that in 2008-09, the highest amount was spent in Los Angles -- nearly Rs. 16 crore. The least expenditure was incurred on the office in Chittagong where nearly Rs. two lakh were spent. The total expenditure in 2008-09 came to Rs. 41.89 crore.
"A comprehensive review is carried out regarding continuation of offices. In general, the commercial viability of offices is reviewed and appropriate action is taken to close offices in cities where alternative arrangement can be made to ensure revenue generation," the reply given to RTI applicant S C Agrawal said.