Civil aviation minister Praful Patel on Thursday said that by November, the government will infuse equity of Rs 1,200 crore into flag carrier Air India (AI). He said that SBI Caps, which has been mandated to carry out the debt restructuring for the airline, has already submitted a plan to RBI and the airline hopes there there will be favourable response from the central bank.
Patel said, ?In the coming days, there will be certain policy restructuring and belt tightening activities for the revival of the airline. However, the airline is on a growth trajectory and things are looking up.? AI has debt of Rs 19,000 crore. The government had infused Rs 800 crore in the last financial year in AI, which had an equity base of a mere Rs 145 crore and had placed orders for 111 aircraft ? 43 from Airbus and 68 from Boeing ? worth $11 billion. The minister said that the airline will have a common code for both AI and erstwhile Indian Airlines by early next year. ?The carrier will join Star Alliance by June next year,? said Patel.
The minister said that there is a 16% passenger growth each day, from 30,000 last year to 35,000 this year. Also yields per ASKM (available seat kilometer) have improved 13%. ?On the international front, the cash loss has come down to Rs 500 crore as against Rs 1,100 crore,? he said.
Signaling that all is well in the workforce at the carrier, Patel said that human resource force will be integrated smoothly after taking into account various parameters.