The committee for restructuring of Air India, headed by Vijay Kelkar, has asked Infrastructure Leasing and Finance Services (IL&FS) for a financial apprai-sal of the international flag carrier.
IL&FS was earlier employed by a similar restructuring committee, also headed by Kelkar, in the case of Indian Airlines, government sources said. The Kelkar committee, appointed last September to develop strategies for operational and financial restructuring of Air India by December, has sought a three-month extension, till March this year for finalising its recommendations.
In a letter to the civil aviation ministry last week, Kelkar, who is the Tariffs Commission chairman, sought extension for the panel, which included department of public enterprises secretary P G Mankad, chief executives of Indian Airlines, Air India and HDFC.
Sources said the committee had already completed its discussions with various employees unions, which gave detailed audio-visual presentations relating to different issues ranging from productivity, efficiency, technology to the wage structure.
However, the management has sought time from the expert group to make their presentation later this month on various issues, including wages and allowances.
Incidentally, Air India board recently decided to seek a loan of up to Rs 150 crore to meet its working capital requirements, as the company recorded a loss of about Rs 60 crore during the first six months of the current fiscal.
Last year, Air India posted about Rs 300 crore losses.
In the wake of the financial constraints and diminishing market share, the government decided to revitalise the corporation and the terms of reference for the expert group included devising short as well as long-term plans for bringing the company back into black. During its various meetings starting late October, the Kelkar committee is seeking information relating to operational costs, revenue, fleet expansion and the programme to ground ageing long-haul aircraft.
The committee sources said the problems in Air India operations were akin to those faced by Indian Airlines. The panel is studying the recent agreement reached by Alitalia an air carrier mostly owned by the Italian government and the trade unions for rejuvenating the airline by joining hands with the Dutch KLM.
In the case of Indian Airlines the Kelkar panel had come heavily on the role of the government and suggested reduction of government holding to 49 per cent.
