NEW DELHI: The government is looking at a new timeline for Air India and the future owners for the troubled airline would walk in as early as the end of May or June this year. Speaking at the India Economic Conclave on Friday, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri said that the government is close to inviting financial bids for the carrier.
“We are looking at another timeline now, what is called a data room for prospective bidders to look at... that is opened up, 64 days for the financial bids to come in. After that it is the question of taking a decision and handing over the airline,” Puri said.
If reports are to be believed, the Tata Group and SpiceJet Chairman Ajay Singh have been shortlisted so far to bid for Air India. Noting that there is no choice but to either “privatise or close” the national carrier, Puri said the government will have to keep the airline running till it gets divested.
“There is no choice, we either privatise or we close the airline. We run a loss of Rs 20 crore every day despite Air India making money now. Because the mismanagement has resulted in a cumulative debt of Rs 60,000 crore,” Puri said. He added, “I don’t have the capacity to keep going to Nirmala ji (finance minister) and say please give me some money.”
When asked on the domestic aviation sector, Puri said that “if we had not seen the virus raising its ugly head again, I would have opened up domestic civil aviation 100 per cent by April 1 in the summer schedule... The total revival of the sector in terms of domestic aviation, opening up, has been delayed by 15-20 days.”