Ministry of Civil Aviation working on turnaround plan for Air India; plans to make airline a board-managed company

Mumbai: Following the assurance of Rs 2,100 crore from the Centre in the form of guaranteed borrowing, the Ministry of Civil Aviation is now chalking out a turnaround plan which will focus on organisational reform of the beleaguered Maharaja, a media report said. A senior Air India official told The Indian Express that the government is planning to is to “make Air India stand on its own feet so that it can be sold in future when it’s conducive to sell the airline.” [caption id=“attachment_5114921” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The government will make the financially-strained national passenger carrier a board-managed company. “One more outsider may join the board,” the official told the newspaper. In 2012 also, the government had announced a turnaround plan which focused on the financial restructuring of the airline. In May this year, Ministry of Civil Aviation Secretary RN Chaubey had said that the option of selling Air India would not be available if the bidding amount ascertained was inadequate. “There are two stages of bidding. The first involves an expression of interest in bidding. The last date for this is 31 May. The ones who succeed in this will be asked to present a financial bid. We are seeing a lot of excitement about the sale. However, if the required amount is not met, we will decide whether the sale will take place or not,” Choubey told ANI. However, the ministry official assured that interest of those employed with the national carrier would be safeguarded at all times. In March this year, the Centre had appointed Ernst & Young LLP India (EY) as its transaction advisor for advising and managing the proposed strategic disinvestment of the national carrier by way of transfer of management control and sale of 76 per cent equity share capital of the airlines held by the government. Reports suggest that Air India is currently in debt to the tune of Rs. 500 billion, and reported a loss of Rs. 57.6 billion in March last year.