Govt tinkering with policies for select few, says Indigo chairman

Low-cost airline Indigo on Saturday alleged that the government was tinkering with policies for a few selected airlines.

“We always knew we will have an artificial competitor in Air India. Air India in its current state and form will always have issues. What we didn’t know was the government will make relentless effort to keep inefficient private operators afloat. We are probably the only zero-debt company, we do not owe money to any operators. More often, we are pitched against competition who keep getting sops after sops,” said Chairman Rahul Bhatia, while speaking at the 84th annual general meeting of Indian Chamber of Commerce here.

The government had taken various steps to aid the cash-strapped Air India —including an equity infusion of Rs 4,000 crore announced in the Union Budget and also permitting external commercial borrowing (ECB) of up to $1 billion — which was facing a combined loss of more than Rs 12,500 crore.

Though the government had not given any direct aid to Kingfisher Airlines, even though its chief Vijay Mallya had written a letter to the government, the aviation ministry had intervened in the issue by asking Airports Authority of India to give additional time to pay its dues.

He added that the firm, which was the only profitable airline company in the country apart from SpiceJet, had said it was not against foreign direct investment in the aviation industry.

“We are not opposed to FDI. We love competition. Our principle issue was why the government is tinkering with policy for a select few. When do you stop giving relief to people who are inefficient,” he said. He also urged the government to take decisions that is for the good of the industry and not for the good of a selective few.

Bhatia added that things go wrong when companies make forecast of what customers want. “Airline business is simple, normally ownerships make it complicated. Our approach is to keep it simple.”