Mallya pitches for infrastructure status to aviation

Kingfisher Airlines Chairman Vijay Mallya today pitched for infrastructure status to the aviation industry, saying it would go a long way in enhancing its credit rating and banking arrangements.

"The Civil Aviation Ministry should persuade the Finance Ministry to grant the aviation industry the infrastructure status, instead of the service sector status which we have now," the Kingfisher Airlines promoter told a seminar organised by the Aeronautical Society of India here.

Maintaining that civil aviation flew thousands of tonnes of equipment and passengers across the country on a daily basis, he said grant of infrastructure status would help the industry in its dealings with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as well as the commercial banks, both in the private and public sectors.

"It will make an enormous difference in our credit rating and financial arrangements," Mallya said.

Later talking to reporters, he claimed the Kingfisher-Jet Airways synergy to curtail costs was "working very well.... We are coordinating in many ways. Obviously it is a process that takes time to unfold".

Stating that he and Jet chief Naresh Goyal were in touch on the matter on a regular basis, Mallya said, "Since we do not announce anything (about the synergy process), it does not mean things are not happening. Two biggest carriers are synergising their operations to cut costs... Why should we not engage in such partnerships."

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Civil Aviation Secretary M Madhavan Nambiar, former Air India CMD V Thulasidass, Director General of Civil Aviation Nasim Zaidi and his predecessors K Gohain and Satinder Singh were present at the seminar among several top aviation officials.