Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

Govt rules out Air-India divestment for now

Civil Aviation Minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain on Friday ruled out the divestment of Air-India for the present, saying the flagship carrier, and Indian Airlines, will be first strengthened with the induction of new aircraft through a transparent process.

The current environment is not ideal for the divestment of Air-India. So it would be first strengthened, the minister said noting that the Maharaja had made a Rs 300 million profit for the first time in six years.

''Air-India and Indian Airlines will have to be closed down if new aircraft are not acquired. The two airlines will get new aircraft and then we will go in for divestment. There is no time-frame,'' he said while addressing a seminar on 'Growth of Civil Aviation: Crucial Role of Safety, Security and Facilitation', organised by the Foundation for Aviation and Sustainable Tourism.

Commenting that he had a long way to go in politics, Hussain said he did not want to get into any controversy with regard to the purchase of new aircraft and hence he was ensuring that the whole deal was transparent.

The CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General of India) and the CVC (Central Vigilance Commission) will be involved in the deals to see that there was no scope for controversy, he said.

While Indian Airlines' plans on the purchase of 43 Airbus aircraft was being studied by the ministry, Air-India would be soon giving its fleet acquisition report, the minister said.

Asked whether the recent meeting with Boeing representative Thomas Pickering had anything to do with the American company offering lower prices for Indian Airlines' fleet expansion, Hussain only said that he had met the former ambassador (Pickering) at the request of the ministry of external affairs.

As of now, Air-India was acquiring on lease six A-310s and four 747-400s on dry lease to expand its network, which included starting a new flight to New York from December 2 and also services to Frankfurt.

Talks were stuck on getting slots for Air-India at London's main Heathrow airport, the minister said. However, India will consider giving a third Delhi-London flight a week to Virgin Atlantic.

Hussain gave a clean chit to the Boeing 737s being flown by Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Indian Airlines. He said he personally flew mostly on the 737s, an aircraft which had been termed a 'flying coffin' after the crash of one of these planes in Patna two years ago.

The minister said the airports at Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata will be leased out through joint ventures. Initially, the ministry had thought of completely leasing out these airports but following the law ministry's recommendation it was now going to privatise them through joint ventures. There were a lot of takers for this proposal, he added.

UNI

ALSO READ:
More Money Headlines
Air-India: Of divestment and other issues