There are no takers in India for the government’s offer to fly Haj travellers.

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None of the domestic carriers, including national carrier Air India (AI) or Jet Airways, responded to expression of interest (EoI) issued by civil aviation ministry for operating Haj flights during October-November this year.

A civil aviation ministry official said the cash-strapped AI has already told the government that it did not want to operate special Haj flights this time. “They (AI) said it makes no business sense for them to fly on this route. Though, with government subsidy, there are no losses on the operations, the carrier does not incur any profit as well. For AI, it would merely mean deploying their aircraft without any return,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

The carrier’s resistance, however, holds no importance. “It has to fly to few destinations just to make its presence felt. We would talk to them (AI) and convince them,” the official said.

The ministry has received EoIs from three carriers abroad – Saudi Arabian Airlines, NAS Air and Alwafeer Air. For west Asia carriers, Haj is a lucrative season. “Their operational cost is almost half that of Air India. That is because they get aviation turbine fuel very cheap. So, for them it is a big business opportunity,” the official said.

Last year, over 1.60 lakh Indians travelled to Mecca, Medina and Mina in Saudi Arabia as part of the Haj pilgrimage. The government subsidises the trip for people who go through Haj Committee. The subsidy amount hovers over Rs 800 crore.

Due to high operational cost, the AI’s ticket price is far more than other airlines. Though the government subsidy to an extent balances it out, there is hardly any scope for margins. Last year in October, the carrier operated over 130 special flights with B747-400, Airbus 310 and Airbus 330 aircraft to facilitate travel of Haj pilgrims to Jeddah and Madina. It had carried over 40,000 people on these special flights.

The aviation ministry has set up a committee comprising officials of ministry of external affairs and representatives of Haj Committee this year to ensure the transparency in the entire process.