Air India is 'Sankat Airlines', says BJP MP

With Air India in dire straits, a demand was made on Wednesday by a Bharatiya Janata Party member in Lok Sabha for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the workings of the national carrier, which has incurred Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) losses.

The House also heard a demand for a regulatory authority for monitoring the functioning of private airlines which, a Congress member alleged, were fleecing the travellers.

Raising the issue of JPC, Shatrughan Sinha (BJP) accused the civil aviation ministry of 'completely mismanaging' Air India that has resulted in the 'Maharaja' turning a 'pauper' with a Rs 5,000-crore loss.

The filmstar-turned politician said matters have come to such a pass that the Frankfurt airport, a major aviation hub, has sought a bank guarantee from Air India for continuance of ground-handling services for the national carrier following a default in payment.

Noting that the 'loot' in Air India was recently raised in the Rajya Sabha effectively, he said the airline has ordered 62 new aircraft at a time when lucrative destinations have been handed over to private airlines at its cost.

Pointing to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee, Sinha said that it was time they looked into the mess.

This could be transparently done only through a JPC, he said, calling Air India 'Sankat Airlines' (airline in crisis).

Congress member Vilas Muttemwar raised the issue of non-refund of ticket fare by private domestic airlines in the event of the traveller not showing up. He said foreign airlines always refunded the ticket fare to the traveller in case of cancellation.

Muttemwar, a former Union minister, said these airlines were a law unto themselves and there has been no regulation for them.

He demanded setting up of a regulatory authority to monitor the functioning of private domestic airlines.

A number of MPs have also had to forfeit the ticket amount as they had to attend to more pressing matters and were unable to take the flight for which the ticket was booked, he said.

Muttemwar said air travellers are fleeced as the airlines collect User Development Fee for developing airports.

Image: Members of the ground staff watch the inaugural flight of an Air India Boeing 777. Photograph: Vijay Mathur/Reuters