Several options available to restore Air India's financial health: Minister

Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju on Tuesday said several options and alternatives are available to restore the financial health of the national passenger carrier Air India.

According to the minister, NITI Aayog has already submitted several suggestions to restore the financial health of the national passenger carrier which are being examined.

Raju was speaking at a media event on the achievements of the Ministry of Civil Avation on completion of three years of NDA government.

At the event, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said several options have been discussed by the airline's management.

Sinha said that a decision on the future of Air India will be made soon and will be based on the objective of making it into a more profitable and viable entity.

Sinha's comments comes days after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the central government was considering to exit Air India.

"There are many private airlines like Jet Airways, IndiGo, GoAir. If 86 per cent of the aviation market can be handled by private sector, then 100 per cent can also be handled by the private sector," Jaitley told DD News in an interview.

National passenger carrier Air India currently has a market share of 14 per cent and a debt of around Rs 50,000 crore. The private airlines enjoy 86 per cent of the market share.

"Air India has a debt of Rs 50,000 crore. Its valuation of aircrafts will be at Rs 20,000-25,000 crore. The civil aviation ministry is exploring all possibilities," Jaitley said.

The central government had earlier stated that Air India's debt needs to be reduced and balance sheet restructured as part of its financial transformation, apart from introduction of corporate governance and professional management.

The flag carrier got a new lease of life on April 12, 2012, when the previous central government under the UPA regime had approved a Rs 30,000 crore turnaround (TAP) and financial restructuring plans (FRP) package spanning up to the year 2021.

The mega financial package came with stringent riders like maintaining high on-time performance and healthy load factors.

The central government under the TRP had allocated to infuse an additional equity of Rs 1,800 crore in the cash-strapped airline for 2017-18 fiscal.

--IANS

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