New Delhi, April 27 (IANS): India's national airline is downsizing its booking operations to bring down operating expenses and has closed down 23 such offices across India, parliament was told on Monday.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma informed the Lok Sabha that Air India has closed down 23 booking offices across India, leaving 54 operational. It is also planning to reduce foreign booking offices as well.

The airline has arrived at this decision with a view to cutting down costs as it is plagued with a difficult financial situation, said Sharma, adding that one of the reasons is that fewer walk-in passengers book tickets at these offices and most of the bookings are being done by agents.

The offices shut down include those at Dehradun, Amritsar, Trichur, Udaipur, Mysore, Leh, Kanpur, Agra, Darjeeling, Surat and Allahabad.

Sharma said passengers can also book tickets online on the Air India website.

The airline shut down international booking offices in Vienna, Chittagong and Zurich in 2013-14 and offices in Tehran and Cairo are also being planned to be closed.

Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said: "To maximise revenue and promote code sharing flights, there is now only a sales or representative set up at the airport at Zurich and the sales representative office at Vienna is operating from a small office space in a business centre."

Though Air India does not operate flights to Amsterdam, Los Angeles and Washington, it is running booking offices in these places.

Raju said these offices are being operated with the objective of tapping and serving Indian population, businessmen and tourists.