Thursday, November 29, 2018

Air India proposes cost-cutting steps to government

New Delhi: The government has asked Air India (AI) management to find out how much would refurbishing its aircraft interiors and ensuring fully functional in-flight entertainment (IFE), especially on ultra-long haul non-stops to US, will cost. Aviation minister Suresh Prabhu has asked AI chairman P S Kharola to come up with this figure and then a special fund will be sought from the finance ministry — over and above the bailout package — for the purpose.

“Big foreign airlines spend huge sums of money on interior upgradation. We cannot do that much but some things need to be ensured like having fully functional IFE screens on AI’s long-haul flights. We will seek money for this from finmin,” Prabhu said.

The airline management has made a presentation to the aviation ministry under which it has proposed cost-cutting and revenue enhancement measures. “Together, these two should lead to a benefit of Rs 2,000 crore per annum. In addition, the process of hiving off some of AI’s unsustainable debt to an SPV is also underway. The debt servicing saving will be in addition to the Rs 2,000 crore proposed by the airline,” aviation secretary R N Choubey said.
29/11/18 Saurbh Sinha/Times of India

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