Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Thursday that the government has no plans to merge Air India and Indian Airlines into a single company.

"No, Sir", was his reply to a question in Lok Sabha when he was asked whether the government was considering a proposal to merge the two public sector carriers.

He said the two premier carriers were operating in a highly competitive market and were constantly endeavouring to improve their services and remain competitive in the market.

The two airlines were also in the process of acquiring aircraft to revamp their fleet, Patel said.

To a question on Delhi and Mumbai airport modernisation, he said while 74 per cent foreign equity was participation through the automatic route was permitted, 100 per cent was allowed through FIPB approval.

However, the two major metro airports were being restructured and modernised through public-private partnership with FDI capped at 49 per cent, he said.

Regarding the dues of private airlines to the government, Patel said while Jet Airways owed about Rs 296 crore (Rs 2.96 billion), Air Sahara owed about Rs 79 crore (Rs 790 million), Air Deccan Rs 58 crore (Rs 580 million), SpiceJet Rs 63 lakh (Rs 6.3 million) and Kingfisher Airlines over Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million).