NEW DELHI: Indian state run national airline Air India faces closure threat.
India’s state-run airline will have to cease operations if it is notprivatised, the country’s junior minister for civil aviation said inparliament on Wednesday, in response to a lawmaker’s question on thesubject.
A group of officials, including India’s home and finance ministers, isfinalising the process of inviting bids from the private sector for theloss-making national carrier.
The company has lucrative landing slots in India and across the world buthas been a burden on the exchequer for years.
Officials are still deliberating over some details, said junior civilaviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri. Once they are finalised, thegovernment will invite bids, he said, adding that India is committed toselling the company.
Last year it failed to attract any bidders when it tried to sell a 76pcstake in the airline and offload about $5.1 billion of Air India’s debt.
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It is now re-evaluating some of the terms and is open to selling theairline in its entirety, Puri said in a written response to a separatequestion in parliament today.
It is also significantly reducing its debt to make it more attractive.
One of the biggest hurdles, however, is its large number of employees – AirIndia has about 9,400 permanent staff and 4,200 contract workers.
