Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh on Monday said though he believes that Air India should be privatised, the time was not ripe for it now and the issue was not before the present Government.
“I am of the opinion that the Government should not be in the services sectors like hotels and airlines. This Government has only about six months left and there is no plan on that front,” he said.
“As the airline business is a capital intensive business, some day Government will have to look at privatisation but before that a political consensus needs to be build on the issue,” he added.
Talking more about Air India, he said the Government would not give more funds to the airline after the equity infusion of Rs30,000 crore till 2021. The airline would have to fend for itself and its employees and the management would have to realise that aviation was a very competitive market.
“In the previous financial year, its EBIDTA was in losses to the level of Rs2,300 crore. This year, it aims to earn a positive EBIDTA of Rs1,000 crore,” he disclosed.
“Air India was also meeting operational costs onalmost 70 per cent of its domestic routes, up from the 30 per cent earlier, as also on all foreign routes flown by its newly -acquired Boeing 787 Dreamliners,” he added.
When asked about current norms of five years of domestic flying and a 20-aircraft fleet to allow Indian carriers to operate abroad, he said: “I personally see no logic in such a rule. I feel there should not be any cap, but I have asked Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to look into the issue and suggest. Accordingly, we will move the Cabinet.”
All Indian airlines excluding GoAir have been flying overseas fulfilling these requirements, but changes in these norms are being keenly awaited by two start-up airlines, AirAsia India and Tata-Singapore Airlines.
GoAir has also urged the Civil Aviation Ministry to consider relaxing rules which allow only those airlines to fly abroad which have operated in the domestic sector for five years and have 20 aircraft in their fleet.