The Ministry of Civil Aviation will shortly move a note before the Union Cabinet for infusing additional equity into the state-owned Air India, the Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel, said here on Wednesday.
“Apart from equity infusion we will also look to reduce the high-cost debt to low-cost debt by way of giving some kind of letter of comfort so that they can draw the money at lower rates of interest. These are the only two major initiatives that are being taken,” the Minister said after inaugurating a two-day Air Transport Symposium.
The management was working on a number of issues, including rationalisation of route, all of which will definitely lead to a positive impact in terms of reducing costs and increasing yields, Mr Patel said.
The Minister, however, cautioned against looking at the increase in passengers carried by the domestic airlines as an indication that the bad times were over.
Recovery hopes
“The August figure of domestic passengers flown by domestic airlines is much better at this moment. But I must sound a note of cautious optimism that the entire revival of the sector cannot be taken for granted.
“There is recovery in the economy, industrial growth is more visible, tax collections are better and therefore I hope this will reflect into more travellers in the sky which in turn will help airlines come out of the current financial problems,” the Minister said.
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