“I would like Air India to survive and fly Indian skies proudly. That’s my wish – whether in the public or the private sector,” Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju told The Hindu in an interview, citing the airline’s huge debt as its biggest issue, despite the ₹30,000 crore bailout package.
“It has a big debt. You put the airline on the market and no one will buy it,” Mr. Raju added.
In 2000, the then NDA government decided to sell 51% of equity of Indian Airlines, with a 26% stake going to a strategic partner. It also decided to allow disinvestment of 60% in Air India, running international operations, with a 26% foreign entity stake. However, the move was shot down by Sharad Yadav, who was the Civil Aviation Minister.
However, the present government’s approach has been different. At the deliberations on the National Civil Aviation Policy, sources say, Prime Minister Narendra Modi requested the Civil Aviation Ministry to keep Air India privatisation out, at an inter-ministerial meeting in 2015. The policy released in June 2016 made no mention about the airline’s future.
