No rush to privatise Air India: Aviation minister

Raju said that new govt may not honour all commitments made by previous one

The new civil aviation minister, P Ashok Gajapathi Raju, said he would not take any hasty decision on privatisation of Air India. In his first address to the media after assuming office on Thursday, he said, “There are private airlines and there is a public sector company. The public sector does have a place and a lot of countries have public sector companies. As of now, we are trying to formulate our views.”

He elaborated state-run companies “in several countries do function rather well. Somehow, for us, it has not happened that way...But we have to examine all aspects...Air India is a public sector undertaking. It has its pluses and minuses. How to develop it, we have to look into.”

Raju said the new government might not honour all commitments made by the previous one but would refrain from dissecting all decisions taken by the earlier regime. “If anyone has to honour all those commitments, then there should have been no change in the government. There is no point in dissecting or doing a post mortem. We have to first formulate our own thinking about the issues,” he said.

Recognising that several airlines in the country were under severe financial stress, Raju said the government would accept suggestions from all quarters to see if the situation could be corrected. If necessary, the minister said, he would consult the finance ministry regarding the high taxation of jet fuel.

He said civil aviation was a major infrastructure sector and while there were several issues to be addressed, improving safety and connectivity would be a priority. “We will strive to create a level-playing field for all the players and make the aviation sector more people-oriented.”

Raju said he would work towards bringing transparency in the functioning of the ministry and decision-making processes. Asked about charges of corruption against people in the previous government, Raju said, “At the general level, we can say...We won't protect anyone, neither will we persecute anyone...Our direction will be to encourage efficiency and honesty. As they say, everyone is honest till there is an opportunity to be dishonest.”

The minister said he would examine all aspects before taking a call on awarding management contracts to private sector entities for the Kolkata and Chennai airports.

He parried questions on issues like the rule to allow Indian carriers to fly abroad and increasing the foreign direct investment cap beyond 49 per cent in the sector, saying the ministry would examine these.

Gajapathi Raju was given detailed presentations on various aspects of the sector by senior ministry officials. He had preliminary discussions with civil aviation secretary Ashok Lavasa, Air India chairman Rohit Nandan, director general of civil aviation Prabhat Kumar and Airports Economic Regulatory Authority chairman Yashwant Bhave.