Air India's balance sheet to be restructured and debt reduced, says Jayant Sinha

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha on Thursday said that Air India's balance sheet has to be restructured and debt reduced as part of the transformation of the national carrier.

"Air India's balance sheet has to be restructured and debt reduced...the other issue is that corporate governance and professional management need to be put in place. Besides it has to be seen how best use can be made of the non-core assets of Air India. Also work on route optimization is underway," said Jayant Sinha while addressing ASSOCHAM's 96th annual session.

He said the overall transformation of Air India is being done with a combination of steps which have started yielding results. The carrier which was running into losses has started giving operating profits.

"This year again Air India would generate operating profits," he said while expressing his confidence.

"On the proposal of naming the airports is under consideration of the cabinet," he said on the issue of renaming some of the airports.

As part of the expansion of the aviation sector, he further said that work on as many as 43 new airports is underway.

"The bids for Jaipur and Ahmedabad airports are being called," he added.

Also, he said that the UDAN (Uday Desh ka Aam Nagrik) program by the government is trying to develop subsidy-based business models so that one-hour flight can be made available at a fare of Rs. 2,500.

Inviting larger investment in the fast growing aviation sector, Sinha added that the airports alone would require investments worth Rs. 2.5 to three lakh crore.