The Hindu Business Line : `No going back on airports revamp'

THERE will be no going back on either the modernisation of the Mumbai and Delhi airports or the fleet acquisition plans of Air-India (A-I) and Indian Airlines (IA), according to the Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel.

Addressing presspersons in the city for the first time after taking over as Minister, Mr Patel said the new Government, would, however "examine" the two issues before taking any final decision. Since the last date for receiving expressions of interest for the modernisation of the Delhi and Mumbai airports was June 4, he said the issue would be taken up by the Ministry on Tuesday. The Government would come out with a statement on the matter on Wednesday.

On the fleet acquisition plans of A-I, Mr Patel said the Government would only have an advisory role in the matter. It was left to the board to decide on its long-term aircraft requirements based on a techno-economic feasibility report.

He added that IA's acquisition plans would be linked to the Rs 320-crore compensation recommended by the Kelkar panel for the grounding of the airlines' entire fleet of A320 aircraft sometime ago. The low-cost carrier to be operated by A-I's wholly owned subsidiary, Air India Charters Ltd, has tentatively been branded Air-India Express. It is expected to commence services in April 2005.

The low-cost carrier, which will be deployed on the Gulf and South-East Asian sectors, would initially be operated with a leased aircraft, Mr Patel said. For this, the airline would lease six 737-800 aircraft to start with — this number would gradually be raised to 14.

The fare on the low-cost carrier would be about 25 per cent less than that on A-I's own flights. Targeted at the worker travelling to these destinations, the planned low-cost service would keep costs down by limiting on-board services, he said.

According to Air India CMD, Mr V. Thulasidas, the low-cost service when launched would free some aircraft, which would in turn be deployed by A-I on western sectors. In this connection, he said, the national carrier planned to add to its current list of destinations. Mr Patel said the Ministry would come out with a comprehensive civil aviation policy by the year-end.

On the spiralling cost of aviation turbine fuel (ATF), he said, while this was mostly due to a global spurt in prices, the Government would consider ways in which it could bring prices under check. He spoke on the possibility of bringing the fuel under the declared goods category, whereby it would be subject to a central sales tax. Currently, ATF is subject to a sales tax decided by the States.