The airlines, which was forced to defer payment of June salary to majority of its staff, has piled up a loss of Rs 7,200 crore as on March 31. For the fiscal 2008-09, it is estimated to have incurred a loss of about Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) in a difficult global aviation market.
The Indian National Football Team achieved its best-ever FIFA Ranking since February 1996 as they were ranked 96 in the July FIFA Rankings released on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters after inaugurating a Rs 50-crore (Rs 500-million) aviation turbine fuel pipeline of Indian Oil Corporation from Manali to Chennai, the minister said: "Air India will not sack employees but financial and organisational restructuring is on the cards."
The Nationalist Congress Party on Monday named Chhagan Bhujbal as the next deputy chief minister of Maharashtra.Earlier, a meeting of the NCP legislature party had authorised party president Sharad Pawar to name the new leader.Pawar's nephew and state Water Resources Minister Ajit Pawar and former deputy CM R R Patil were the other aspirants for the post.
The body of Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Union Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde, who died in a road accident in Delhi, reached Mumbai on Tuesday evening.
"There is every reason for Air India to respond quickly. The management, the employees, all will have to come out with a proper restructuring plan," he told reporters outside Parliament House. Patel said government support cannot be taken for granted. "It cannot be open-ended. However, the government is committed...We want a strong national carrier," he said.
Air India expects to get an allocation of Rs 1,200 crore in the forthcoming Budget, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Thursday. "We expect a Rs 1,200-crore (Rs 12 billion) provision for Air India in the budget," Patel said.
"There was a drop of 30 per cent in passenger load factor leading to losses in many top airlines in the world including British Airways. But last quarter of 2009 has again raised some hopes of revival in the country," Patel told reporters in Nagpur on Monday.
A draft note on equity infusion in Air India, prepared by the civil aviation ministry, is being sent to Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.
"If the charges are proved, then the NCP will completely dissociate itself from Patil," senior NCP leader and Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told media-persons in New Delhi.
The government is likely to allow state-owned Airports Authority of India to raise Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) through infrastructure bonds to enable it to finance its ongoing programme to modernise and expand a large number of airports across the country.
Tenders for the proposed Navi Mumbai airport are likely to be floated in the next six month and the project is 'very much on track', Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Monday.
The proceeds of the IPO are expected to be ploughed into activities like expanding the fleet of the airline, which was earlier merged with its sister carrier Indian.
Dr Manmohan Singh's government has 47 crorepati ministers in it. Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel is the richest of the lot with assets worth Rs 89.9 crore.
Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal on Wednesday said that he would have no option but to follow 'the law of the land' if an action had to be taken against the agitating pilots, while appealing to them to resolve the matter amicably and return to work. Meanwhile, Goyal met Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel in the wake of the agitation by the airline pilots.
Halving the productivity-linked incentive will make its salary levels unattractive and put a heavier burden on junior staffers.
Heavy fog in New Delhi and surrounding areas disrupted the schedules of several flights in the capital on Sunday. Some flights were cancelled and several delayed due to almost zero visibility, caused by foggy conditions.A similar situation had been witnessed last year, when dense fog had disrupted flight schedules and caused chaos in Delhi, Srinagar and Chandigarh airports. The government had then assured that the situation will not be repeated in 2008.
Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha, civil aviation minister Praful Patel said, "full service airlines earlier used to offer five per cent commission to travel agents on basic fare." "From November 1, 2008, Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher abolished the agency commission and introduced transaction fee model... (however) Jet and Kingfisher have started paying commission on basic fare and fuel surcharge.
The minister said under the agreement between the Airports Authority of India and the joint venture companies -- Delhi International Airport Limited and Mumbai International Airport Limited -- 'the target rating after completion of the stage 2 shall be 3.75 on the scale of five.'The stage II of development of the Delhi airport is expected to be completed by 2016. Patel added the two companies had undertaken several initiatives to improve the satisfaction levels of customers.
"Aircraft movements, passenger and freight traffic registered negative growth rate of -00.10, -06.80 and -01.00 per cent during 2008-09," civil aviation minister Praful Patel said in a written reply to a query in Lok Sabha. The minister also said that the foreign airlines had increased their operations by 85 per cent in the last five years in the country.
The government will infuse equity into Air India by March, but only if the ailing state-run carrier manages to generate another Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) by increasing revenue and cutting costs.
The minister, while speaking at the event organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi on Wednesday, said the problems at AI did not come up overnight. The airline's high-cost structure and the compulsions of being a public sector unit had been the reasons and it had been making a loss, he said. AI is to incur a loss of over Rs 7,000 crore (Rs 70 billion) this fiscal year.
A day after the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security filed an FIR against Continental Airlines for frisking former President A P J Abdul Kalam, the government on Wednesday said it knew about the incident and had issued a show cause notice to the airline on July 9."The BCAS, after getting the information in time, first conducted an inquiry and then issued the show cause notice on July 9. On Tuesday, they filed an FIR also Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said.
Civil aviation minister Praful Patel has directed Bangalore International Airport Limited, the Siemens-led private consortium developing the new greenfield airport, to increase its capacity to handle passengers.
Air India is considering a proposal to extend its low fare services to some domestic routes to compete with private carriers.
The government is understood to have approached industrialist Ratan Tata to head an advisory board of the ailing Air India.
NACIL had submitted a proposal in October 2008 for equity infusion of Rs 1,231 crore (Rs 12.31 billion) and provision of soft loan of Rs 2,750 crore (Rs 27.5 billion), with an interest of approximately 5 per cent payable over 15 years.
The Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday attributed the drubbing the Congress-led UPA has received in polls mainly to the "communication deficit" on part of outgoing prime minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and also to issues like hike in prices of fuel and LPG cylinders by the ruling dispensation.
The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday sought to downplay the controversy that kicked up after "mischievous" remarks were made about Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in the NCP-supported magazine Rashtravadi.
According to the package, the dues will be cleared in six monthly instalments by March 2009. Current ATF purchases will get 90 days' credit, supported by bank guarantees. Also, jet fuel price revisions will henceforth happen every fortnight. Praful Patel on Thursday admitted in the Lok Sabha that it may take another two months to make the recently-opened third runway at the Delhi airport fully operational.
The government had provided some relief to domestic airlines when ATF prices had sky-rocketed, Patel said, adding 'it would not be possible now.'MIAl has proposed that it may be allowed to levy Rs 350 per domestic passenger and Rs 1,300 per international passenger to meet its funding requirements.
Asked about a possible bailout for Air India, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said, "I think it will happen because as the owner of the airline, the government has its responsibility to put in equity, like private airlines where their promoters put in money." Asked if the government was looking at a Rs 15,000 crore bailout, Patel said: "No, Rs 15,000 crore is not the number. The number is far less than that."
The move came after civil aviation minister Praful Patel warned it was time to act against any move towards cartelisation. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation shot off letters to all scheduled domestic carriers asking for information regarding the recent hike and transparency in airfare advertising, saying it should be furnished by Saturday.
The Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party came under attack following the arrest of its senior MP Padamsinh Patil by CBI in a double murder case and faced allegations of a cover up in the matter by up by the party's Home Minister in Maharashtra.
Sachin Tendulkar's long-cherished dream of having his own dream home finally seems to have realised. The ace batsman purchased an old villa near Carter Road, Bandra West, in suburban Mumbai.
The government will consider the issue of infusing equity into ailing Air India shortly, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Thursday.
Differences in United Progressive Alliance over the issue of an inquiry into 'snoopgate' allegedly involving Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi came to the fore with the Nationalist Congress Party and National Conference opposing such a probe at this juncture.
The government is considering allowing the GMR-led Delhi International Airport Ltd to charge airport development fee from passengers to meet the shortfall in financing the cost of expanding and modernising the Indira Gandhi International Airport.
Construction activities for modernising and expanding the Kolkata and Chennai airports by the Airports Authority of India will begin by the end of next month, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Thursday. Replying a question on the government's recent decision to allow charging of user development fees by the private operator of the new Hyderabad airport, Patel said "We are considering the same for the new airport at Bangalore."
In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, civil aviation minister Praful Patel said some of the airlines have not been settling their dues in time. The minister said several airlines, including international carriers, had outstandings to privatised airports.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances