Air India losses coming down: Govt

The government today claimed that the losses of Air India were coming down and admitted that there were "some issues" which were affecting the process of its merger.

The losses have started declining and with more synergy the situation will improve further, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told the Lok Sabha during Question Hour.

On the criticism regarding mounting losses in the national carrier after merger of Air India and Indian Airlines, he said "the merger was planned with a great degree of confidence... Yes, there are some issues which need to be handled carefully and merger is not a one-day process, it is 2-3 years process for full integration."

He asserted that Air India would remain a national carrier under the UPA regime.

Taking a dig at former Civil Aviation Minister and BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain, who had claimed that Air India and Indian Airlines were profitable during the NDA rule, Patel said "...Be assured that Air India was and will remain a national carrier in the UPA regime and not like NDA which had planned to sell it."

Asserting that the government was fully committed to support National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL) which runs the merged carrier, Patel said  Rs 800 crore worth equity was infused into it last year and another Rs 1,200 crore would be put in this fiscal.

The Minister informed the House that Air India has offices in 13 cities where it does not have its own flights. These are Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Milan, Vienna, Copenhagen, Zurich, Brussels, Moscow, Cairo, Tehran, Nairobi, Sydney and Chittagong.

These offices have been established on account of code sharing with other airlines and for revenue generation.

"The commercial viability of all such offices is in the process of review by Air India and appropriate action is being taken to close all offices in cities where alternative arrangements can be made to ensure revenue generation," Patel said.