Cabinet to take up A-I's expansion plan soon

The Oversight Committee headed by former comptroller and auditor general C G Somaiah has cleared Air-India's $6 billion plan for acquisition of aircraft and the proposal will soon be presented to the Cabinet for its approval.

Air-India plans to buy 68 Boeing aircraft of various configurations "� 50 for its own use and 18 for its budget subsidiary Air-India Express. Civil aviation minister Praful Patel said the Cabinet is expected to take up the proposal soon.

"The proposal has been circulated and we are waiting for the response from other ministries. The deal will be finalised soon and the aircraft deliveries should start at the earliest," he said.

According to official sources, the government wants to follow the model it had adopted while finalising the fleet acquisition plan for Indian Airlines (IA).

In the case of IA, the government had set up a group of ministers headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram to undertake a final round of negotiations with Airbus Industrie and get additional discount on the aircraft price.If the same model is followed, the deal will be evaluated by a group of ministers after the Cabinet clears the proposal.

In addition, the ministers will hold negotiations with Boeing to bring down the price of aircraft.