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Air-India, Indian Airlines likely to decide on new aircraft by November

Air-India, which has made a spectacular turnaround to record a profit of more than Rs 10 million last month, should be completing the entire evaluation process for new planes by October-end if the current schedule is maintained, Civil Aviation Minister Anant Kumar has said.

Indian Airlines, which has completed technical evaluation, should also be making a decision on the aircraft to replace its ageing fleet by October-end if the present speed of the process is kept up, Anant Kumar said.

The minister said there was no bar and it was entirely the choice of the airline whether to buy the medium capacity, long range (MCLR) or small capacity long range (SCLR).

"What should be conceptualised is that the planes should be user-friendly. It must have passenger appeal," he said. Media reports indicated that in case the national carriers forge joint ventures, the government may allow the foreign/domestic partners in the ventures to have a say in the selection of new aircraft.

Anant Kumar said when he took over the ministry, Air-India's budgeted loss was Rs 3.40 billion. In the first quarter of last year, the national carrier showed a loss of Rs 800 million and at the end of this year losses would be less than Rs 500 million. In the first quarter of this year, there was only a loss of Rs 18 million. In fact, in June 1999, Air-India had shown a profit of more than Rs 10 million.

Air-India's future strategic partner, which will preferably be a leading international airline, should have a say in what aircraft the national carrier must acquire, Ananth Kumar felt.

But if the process for selecting a strategic partner was delayed, the airline should go ahead and buy the planes it thinks is most suitable, the minister added.

Ananth Kumar said technical evaluation of the ATR 42-500 had been completed a long time ago. He said it was important for Indian Airlines to get smaller aircraft for feeder services.

He said although everything had been put on hold, including the Rs 3.25 billion equity infusion into Indian Airlines which was linked with aircraft acquisition, all the decisions taken during his tenure -- disinvestment of the two airlines, ITDC, Pawan Hans, the Airports Authority of India and the Hotel Corporation of India and joint venture of airports -- were irreversible whichever government came to power.

"Should I stop everything like setting up of aero bridges and radars till October 11 when the model code of conduct ends? I have asked the AAI to go ahead with the first cyber café in an airport, in Bangalore, and fixing of aero bridges there without any formal inauguration. We have completed all pending projects within six or nine months, I am satisfied".

He said he had been criticised for being an 'inauguration minister' but he was happy that he was not known for only laying foundation stones for projects.

"When I took over, there were only four radars in the country, now there are nine covering the entire country except the Northeast where too it will be set up soon."

He said during the last one year, through aggressive marketing, a competitive edge had been given to Indian Airlines, which was going to make profit for the third consecutive year.

For the first time in eight years, Indian Airlines had not had any fare revision and still it was going to make profit, the minstier said.

He said the load factor of Indian Airlines had increased to 68 per cent all over the country and 75 per cent between Delhi and Bombay. From 700 passengers, Indian Airlines was now taking 2000 people between the two cities.

The Airports Authority of India's profits had been the highest in 50 years. The AAI had given a dividend of Rs 460 million to the government. The HCI and Pawan Hans had also made profits.

Regarding the project to build 100-seater planes, he said Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, advisor to the defence minister, had spoken to him about the project feasibility report a couple of months ago. But because of the Kargil conflict and coming elections it has now been held up.

On the subject of Kargil, he said not many people had noticed that Indian airlines had only withdrawn flights to Leh and Srinagar for three days between May 26 and 29.

Kumar, who is also the tourism minister, said from a total of about 1 million visitors between 1989 and 1998, more than 100,000 tourists had visited Jammu and Kashmir till June this year and 150,000 people had gone for the Amarnath pilgrimage.

UNI

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