The Indian Airlines board on Wednesday rejected the government's proposal to revisit its plans for acquiring 43 aircraft.
"After detailed deliberations, the board of Directors of Indian Airlines in its 74th Meeting held on October 13, 2004 decided to recommend to the Ministry of Civil Aviation that the proposal for acquisition of 43 aircraft by Indian Airlines does not need to be revisited," the airline said in a statement.
This comes after the government asked Indian Airlines to take a re-look at the fleet acquisition plan as it felt that the proposal was not in sync with the requirement of the market.
However, following the recent decision of Indian Airlines to lease nine wide-bodied aircraft, the government had changed its stand.
The government had said that now it should be appropriate for Indian Airlines to go ahead with the original fleet acquisition plan.
The board has also recommended to the government to take immediate steps to secure the approval of the public investment board (PIB) to acquire the aircraft.
The board also approved the implementation of cargo automation in Indian Airlines. As per the plans, manually generated documentation would be replaced by computer-generated auto Air Way Bills and other related documents.
This is part of the company's move to expand its reach and market share in the cargo business.
"It would enable on-line tracking of the movement of cargo carriage and availability of cargo capacity on the network leading to increased customer satisfaction by avoiding delays, mishandling, smooth carriage and optimizing cargo capacity utilization," the statement said.
"The shippers would be provided instant information as to the status of shipments, delivery, etc., including facility of information on Internet. This would greatly improve the competitive edge and operational efficiency of Indian Airlines in marketing cargo and freight operations," the statement said.
The statement pointed out that on an average Indian Airlines carries about 3,530 tonnes of cargo every day.
