The Air India building has 22 floors overlooking the Arabian Sea. Many floors are already leased out to other companies and it represents one of the costliest commercial real estate in both the city and the country. Air India made losses of Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) in 2008-09.
The detention of Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan at an American airport continued to spark outrage in the country on Sunday with the government saying the action was "offensive" and unacceptable and that it will "strongly" take up the issue with the United States.
Meanwhile, replying to another query, the minister said that National Aviation Company of India Ltd had submitted a proposal for infusion of equity of Rs 1,231 crore (Rs 12.31 billion) and provision of soft loans worth Rs 2,750 crore (rs 27.5 billion) in the last fiscal.
The greenfield airport project at Navi Mumbai is likely to get the final environmental nod by October and the bidding process expected to begin by the year-end, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Monday.
"All efforts are being made to help passengers. A formal enquiry will be conducted by Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau," the minister said on Twitter.
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.
Interacting with media persons after the launch of the party unit, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said: "There are people here in the US who are passionate about India despite living here for so many years and we are here today to show our commitment to Indian Americans. We would like to lend a voice to their emotions, sentiments and thought processes and carry them back home."
"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.
"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.
India's largest carrier IndiGo will cut 20 per cent of its flights due to lower demand as a rapidly spreading coronavirus upends the recovery of air travel. The airline was operating around 1,200 flights as on Saturday. Other airlines are being forced to cancel flights as states tighten restrictions to combat the spread of the virus, and people are dropping last-minute travel plans. Airlines carried 2,518 passengers on 260,251 flights on Saturday, compared to 2,794 passengers on 358,856 flights the day before.
'We have the majority. We will survive even when we go ahead with the deal,' Praful Patel told rediff.com 'We have 234 (Lok Sabha) MPs in the UPA, add 39 members of the Samajwadi Party and the Independents who have declared support to us,' a Congress leader added. 'We believe it touches the mark of 272.'
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.
Some of the operational goals the carrier has set for itself are 25 million domestic and 15 million international passengers by 2015.
The bill to set up an Airport Economic Regulatory Authority, which will fix tariffs for different agencies involved in airport operations and management, will be introduced in the budget session of Parliament next year.
Private airlines collecting taxes from travellers other than the passenger service fee will be penalised and made to refund such money, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told Lok Sabha on Thursday. Patel made it clear that the government did not regulate the air fare levied by Airline companies. The government only levies Rs 221 as passenger service fee which is used for security of airports and to cover other related expenses, he said.
The Civil Aviation Authority of India Bill 2013, which was introduced by Minister of State for Civil Aviation K C Venugopal, would provide the CAA full operational and financial autonomy to regulate all issues concerning civil aviation safety and protect the interests of consumers in a fast-changing aviation scenario.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez on Monday inaugurated the Tata Advanced System Limited (TASL)-Airbus facility in Vadodara to manufacture C-295 military aircraft in India.
The Centre will come out with a policy by next year that will prescribe guidelines to state governments, private investors and Airports Authority of India for building airports. This was announced by the Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel at an Assocham function to discuss the need for building aerotropolis (cities around the airport).
Janata Dal (United) president and former Civil Aviation Minister Sharad Yadav said the barrier of language might have led to the Managalore air crash in which 158 persons onboard were killed.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju, who is in the midst of a row over offloading of passenger and delaying a flight from Leh to Delhi, on Thursday tendered an apology even as he insisted that he was not aware of some others not being allowed to board.
The Indian hockey team recently won the Asia Cup, but the recognition the players received was nothing like what the cricket team is getting after the Twenty20 World Cup triumph.
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.
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.
Thirty-five of the 77 Union ministers have failed to file annual details of their assets and liabilities before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh even over a month after the passage of the deadline.
UAE's promise of $50-bn investment in Indian infra won't be included.
Divestment in major state-run firms is set to perk up the IPO space, with about six PSUs including Air India, BSNL, Oil India and NHPC, gearing up to sell equity sale in the primary market.
India and Qatar on Wednesday signed a bilateral air services agreement to improve connectivity and decided to further bolster multifaceted ties between the two countries.
Dressed in colourful attire, members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday got their group photograph clicked in the old Parliament building, hours before legislative proceedings shift to the new Parliament House.
Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi said the government was considering extending financial support to Air India.
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.
All scheduled commercial passenger flights have been suspended in India since March 25 when the Modi government imposed a lockdown to contain the novel cornavirus pandemic.
The Centre has ordered a probe into how a crude bomb found its way into the cargo hold of a Kingfisher flight in a "major breach of security", Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Tuesday.
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.
Explaining the precarious financial health of India's flag carrier, the government on Wednesday said Air India earns Rs 36 crore (Rs 360 million) a day from its operations while it spends about Rs 57 crore (Rs 570 million).
The government plans to formulate a separate set of policies for regional airlines, Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Monday.
India's infrastructure sector alone can absorb more than $150 billion of foreign direct investment over the next five years.
There is no proposal from Indian Airlines to sell its assets for meeting daily expenses and neither has it sold any for the purpose, Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain said on Monday.
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