Civil aviation minister Praful Patel on Saturday virtually ruled out any financial bailout of the private airlines and warned them of appropriate action if flight schedules were disrupted. He also renewed his appeal to the airlines for negotiations.
Patel?s statement comes on the back of major private airlines threatening to suspend operations on August 18 over unmet demands like rationalisation of taxes and reasonable airport usage fees for the past two years.
?Tax on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) has been a problem for many years,? Patel said, adding the government could not be expected to bail out loss-making private airlines. ? The government reiterates its advice to private airlines against suspending operations on August 18,? he said while warning that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) would take appropriate action to protect passenger interest.
The DGCA also issued a notice to the airlines saying they were directed to confirm compliance with the civil aviation rules within 48 hours. Any non-compliance with the provisions may attract legal action as provided in the aircraft Act/rules and relevant regulations, it said. According to the authority, airlines have to inform it about the decision to suspend services on August 18 with valid reasons and in case of cancellation of flights are required to refund the full amount to the passengers within seven days.
Following the government?s tough posture, the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), the umbrella body for private airlines in the country, issued a statement saying the decision to suspend operations has been ?grossly misunderstood? and that ?it was neither a threat nor blackmail nor a desire to pressurise? the government. It is not even intended to cause inconvenience to passengers and the airlines are merely seeking to be treated fairly. The statement also denied that they were seeking any charity or bailout from the government.
Citing the high price of ATF (including high taxes) in the country, the airlines body said it was a fact that jet fuel prices were much higher here than countries abroad. ?In addition, airlines are taxed heavily and forced to accept high charges (unilaterally decided by airport operators) for airport, landing, parking and navigational services. The depreciation of the rupee against the dollar has also resulted in significantly higher cost of leasing and maintaining aircraft,? it said, adding the airline industry, which was reeling under a global economic recession, also faced severe decline in passenger traffic after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November last year.
The airlines body said it only wished to emphasise that the carriers would be unable to continue operations and, like every other industry, their industry should be viable and sustainable.
The decision to suspend flights was taken jointly by Kingfisher Airlines, Kingfisher Red, Jet Airways, JetLite, Jet Konnect, IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir at a meeting of the FIA in Mumbai on Friday.
State-owned Air India, which is not part of the protest, has planned to mount additional flights throughout its vast national network on August 18 if the private carriers went ahead with their threat.
Fully business class carrier Paramount Airways and regional carrier MDLR Airlines are also not part of the proposed protest action.
Meanwhile, former civil servant Yashwant Bhave on Saturday took over as the first chairperson of the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) which has been set up to decide on airport and aeronautical charges and settling disputes.
The private airlines, which were protesting against high airport charges levied by airport operators, have been demanding that AERA be made functional immediately to listen to their grievances.