Govt plans to restructure A-I board

The government is set to restructure the board of national carrier Air-India. The move comes at a time when the state-run airline is planning to tap the capital markets and raise funds for its expansion.

In October, the government had reconstituted the board of Indian Airlines by inducting the functional heads of personnel and finance and the deputy managing director into it.

The Air-India board will now have four representatives from its functional departments. The directors of finance, commercial, engineering and personnel will become its permanent members. There is also a plan to induct five non-executive directors into the board.

The existing members of Air-India's board include chairman of Air-India V Thulasidas, chairman of Indian Airlines P K Mishra, additional secretary and financial advisor (ministry of civil aviation) Raghu Menon, joint secretary (ministry of civil aviation) N Vaghu, chairman ICICI, and chairman of Airports Authority of India (AAI) K Ramalingam.

The government is of the view that induction of functional heads on the board of the carrier will help operations. Notably, this has been a long pending demand of the airline.

The latest move forms part of the government's plan to give the management of the carrier more representation on the board. Till now, the only professionals from Air-India on its board were its chairman and managing director.

"The airline is planning a public offer. The process of selection will be approved by the appointment committee of the Cabinet," said a civil aviation ministry official.

The government is also contemplating to restructure the board of Airports Authority of India (AAI) by inducting independent directors to give the airport operator a more corporate look.

The move assumes significance as AAI is expected to face competition from other operators in the light of the government's airport privatisation and modernisation project.