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Our Bureau

New Delhi, June 11 The mood at the second floor wood-panelled conference room was sombre. The room was the venue of the meeting that the Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel, was having with airline Chief Executives before leading a delegation to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh.

Echoing the sentiments of the industry, the Chairman of Jet Airways, Mr Naresh Goyal, said that while his airline was suffering a daily loss of about Rs 9 crore, the situation for the other players was no different, with Air India suffering higher daily losses and Kingfisher reporting daily losses of about Rs 5 crore.

“On every seat on every flight the industry is losing money. If the situation continues for one more year then we will have to shut shop,” Mr Goyal said.

But various players had different remedies for the industry.

While promoters of the low-cost airline, SpiceJet, made a plea not only for increasing the foreign direct investment limit but also allowing foreign airlines to invest here, it was immediately countered by Mr Goyal who pointed out that with the losses that most European airlines were reporting, Jet Airways could easily pick up another international airline.

The Minister did not directly give any indication of the Government intervening in the sector, though he did point out that the circumstances that the aviation industry was finding itself in were extraordinary. Mr Patel added that in the US, the Government had intervened in such extraordinary situations.

As the meeting drew to a close, the Minister suggested that each of the airline CEOs concentrate on the problem of Aviation Turbine Fuel at the meeting with the Prime Minister.

“Mr Naresh and Mr Mallya can start and then others can have their say. Mr Bhulo (the promoter of SpiceJet), you also speak,” Mr Patel said as he walked out of the room towards a battery of waiting photographers.

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Sombre mood at airline chief executives meet

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