Government considers bailout package for all airlines

The Government has asked airlines to submit details of their financial position, extent of debt and working capital requirements in order to try and work out a bailout package in consultation with the Ministry of Finance and banks. A Working Group, under the chairmanship of the Civil Aviation Secretary, has asked Chairman and Managing Directors of all seven domestic scheduled airlines to submit the data by this month.

This comes even as banks gave the nod for a Rs 18,000-crore debt rejig plan for Air India and also agreed to provide fresh cash credit of Rs 2,200 crore. Domestic airlines had approached the Government seeking help to reduce their debt burden and work out a sustainable business model. They had also wanted to ensure that the volatility in the rupee and increasing price of aviation turbine fuel, a key cost component, does not make their operations non-viable, as per a Hindu Business Line report by Ashwini Phadnis and Shishir Sinha.