The Centre and States owe Air India Rs 498.17 crore as on December 31, 2020 for VVIP travel, evacuation operations, travel of foreign dignitaries among other services. The Governments in states and at the Centre owe the airline Rs 84.57 crore for VVIP travel, Rs 12.61 crore for foreign dignitaries’ travel, Rs 9.67 crore for evacuation operations and Rs 391.32 crore as other outstanding dues, Union Civil Aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri told Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question.
The national carrier incurred a provisional loss of Rs 7,982 crore in 2019-20 as compared to the net loss of Rs 8,556 crore in 2018-19, Puri said. The Government is currently in the process to sell its entire stake in debt-ridden airline.
“The total amount of outstanding dues owed by the Central and State Governments to Air India for VVIP travel, evacuation operations, foreign dignitaries travel and other outstanding dues as on 31.12.2020 is Rs 498.17 crore,” Puri stated.
In reply to another question, Puri said that amid coronavirus pandemic, domestic passenger traffic fell from 11,99,45,632 during March-December 2019 to 3,77,79,592 during March-December 2020, while international passenger traffic fell from 1,96,64,179 to 18,55,033.Similarly, Revenues of major Indian scheduled carriers fell from Rs 46,711 crore during April-September 2019 to about Rs 11,810 crore during April-September 2020. Their full time and contractual employment which was Rs 74,887 as on 31 March 2020 fell to Rs 67,906 as on 30 September 2020.
In a written reply to Rajya Sabha to a asked by ND Gupta, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that airline carriers have been severely affected due to restrictions on domestic and international passenger movements. “Domestic air cargo handled fell from 1.15 million metric tonnes (MMT) during March-December 2019 to 0.72 MMT during March-
December 2020, while international air cargo handled fell from 1.74 MMT to 1.19 MMT.Deccan Charters Pvt. Ltd. and M/s. Air Odisha Aviation Pvt. Ltd. have ceased operations from 24 July 2020 and 30 July 2020 respectively”, Puri said.