Government to support Air India's restructuring: Praful Patel
New Delhi:
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel on
Tuesday said the Government has agreed in principle to support Air India in its
restructuring process. Patel said that he would ask the ministerial group on civil
aviation to immediately release funds for cash-strapped national carrier Air India
as recommended by the committee of secretaries. Talking to reporters here, Patel
said: "The group of ministers on civil aviation sector headed by Pranab Mukherjee
is meeting tomorrow. There are many challenges in this sector. The group of ministers
has been constituted to address many of the issues, which are facing the sector,
and of course Air India is also one of the issues. We would like to see as the
government has broadly agreed in principle to support Air India in its restructuring
process." Last month, a committee of secretaries headed by Cabinet Secretary had
cleared Rs.50 billion for Air India over the next three years, with a condition
that the airline would cut costs and raise its revenue.
