New civil aviation minister Vayalar Ravi, who assumed office on Thursday, stated that he would restore the lost glory of the state carrier Air India. This sounded interesting since the outgoing aviation minister Praful Patel is understood to have been removed from the ministry, albeit with an elevation to the Cabinet rank largely due to his failure to turnaround Air India.
Ravi said he would bring Air India to financial health and sought the support of airline unions to achieve it. Patel who assumed charge of the heavy industry and public enterprises at Udyog Bhawan in the morning made clear that Air India would not be declared sick. earlier the heavy industry ministry has batted for considering the public sector carrier sick and Patel’s stand runs contrary to it.
Air India which till few years back commanded highest market share in the domestic market has slipped to number four and is struggling to survive in the absence of government support. Low-cost airline IndiGo which operates with 34 aircraft in last November overtook Air India which has a fleet strength of 135 jets.
?I solicit the cooperation of all trade unions. I am here to hear them and seek their cooperation. Among my priorities would be to improve Air India’s services, make it a profitable institution and restore its lost glory,? Ravi, who is a former trade unionist said.
Air India’s accumulated loss of over Rs 12,000 crore as on March 2010 is the highest among the domestic carriers and is faced with the mounting burden of debt. As per an estimate, Air India has a total debt of about Rs 40,000 crore which includes short-term working capital loan and long-term debt for aircraft acquisition.
As civil aviation minister Praful Patel had repeatedly come under fire for the poor management of Air India’s financial health.
?I have seen the document prepared by Deloitte and SBI Caps and the long term plans for Air India (AI). It is completely doable and certainly there is no issue of AI not doing well in the future,? Patel said.
