Cure for Maharaja’s ailment lies in the private sector

New Delhi: It is simple mathematics. Over Rs 7,200 crore losses, a Rs 45,000 crore bill to acquire new aircraft, equity as low as Rs 145 crore and over 30,000 irate employees ready to bring its operations to a grind if there is a salary cut. All this adds up to deep trouble for Air India.
Is there any hope of a turn around? The government has been in the midst of trying out several options to infuse cash into the resource-starved company piling up losses. At least for now, it has not weighed the option of privatising the national carrier. What if the company is returned to its parents? Will the Maharaja regain its pride of place amongst air travellers as the Tatas’ flagship brand?
“There needs to be an airline that is not just for profit maximisation. It needs to address issues like better connectivity in north-eastern states or attending to causes like Air India took upon itself,” former aviation secretary Ajay Prasad told Financial Chronicle.
Ironically, for employees, their chairman and managing director Arvind Jadhav and ‘babus’ in Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan running the airline from the backdoor are villains of the peace. They detest Jadhav for proposing a wage cut to pull the airline out of the red. They blame the bureaucracy for all ills bogging the airline.
31/12/09 Parul Chhaparia/mydigitalfc.com

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: NACIL Jan 2010