Air India likely to post over Rs 100 crore operating profit in 2015-16

As PM Narendra Modi spoke of Air India's turnaround in his Independence Day speech today, the state-run airline is expecting to log over Rs 100 crore operating profit in the last fiscal and projecting to cross the Rs 700 crore mark in the current financial year. While the 2015-16 figures are still being audited and finalised, senior officials said, "We are sure to cross Rs 100 crore worth of operating profits in the last fiscal, largely due to low fuel prices as well as improved performance. In the current financial year, we are projecting that this figure will jump to Rs 700-800 crore." The Prime Minister said, "Today I can say with complete satisfaction that Air India, which used to be notoriously known for incurring losses, has improved its operations leading it to log operational profits." The officials, however, said the biggest challenge before the airline was the massive debt burden of Rs 52,000 crore, whose servicing alone is costing the airline around Rs 5,800 per annum. <br/>