Civil aviation ministry has proposed that Parliamentarians should travel only by Air India to help the ailing airline tide over the
financial crisis, reports ET. “The proposal is currently under the consideration of the House Committee,” a senior official in the civil aviation minister said.
The ministry has also asked states to persuade their officials to prefer Air India. Finance ministry has already directed central government officials to board Air India for any official tour. The business from the government is expected to generate a revenue of around Rs 2,000 crore annually. As per the July 13 order, officials can travel other airline only after taking permission from the civil aviation ministry. This rule applies to both domestic as well as international tours.
The ministry has also proposed that all major government buildings should host small sales offices.
The official, however, said that the ministry is yet to write to states formally for giving a fly-only-Air India directive.
The airline has approached the government for a bailout package to stay afloat. It has started a slew of cost-cutting exercises such as review of cash incentives of its 31,000 employees and rationalisation of fleet size. Due to high operational cost and slackening demand, Air India had lost about Rs 5,000 crore in 2008-09.
|
|
