Call for privatization of Air India

New Delhi: The India chapter of the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation ( CAPA) has recommended that the government should privatize loss-making Air India in the next three to four years. Or else, it has warned, the airline would keep require large doses of public money every year to stay alive.
"Air India should be privatised over a period of 3-4 years - with clear and immutable milestones along the way. If the status quo continues, the airline will drain up to $1 billion per annum from the public exchequer over the next decade, an unsustainable and unacceptable scenario. If it is restructured and recapitalised, with its working capital debts written off, there exists the potential to create some value in AI at which point it should be privatised, with the government retaining a 26% stake. As the airline has no chance of a viable commercial future alone, it should be given the freedom to seek a viable airline partner as part of the privatisation," the report submitted to the aviation ministry as input for framing a new aviation policy says.
04/08/12 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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

Categories: Air India Aug 2012