Air India says yet to receive equity infusion from government

National carrier Air India on Monday said it is yet to receive the equity infusion from the government to meet its working capital requirements after an airline’s pilots’ body claimed grounding of several aircraft due to lack of funds.

“There is no money for spares and maintenance of these aircraft. Some of them have been grounded for the last three months. We haven’t received the supplementary grant from the government so far,” an Air India official said, adding that the situation is likely to continue for some time.

The government on July 31 sought parliament’s nod for a supplementary grant of Rs 980 crore to debt-laden carrier to continue day-to-day operations. Air India had sought an equity infusion of Rs 2,100 crore from the government as part of an ongoing bailout package. The airline has so far received `27,195 crore capital under the Turn Around Plan (TAP) approved in 2012.

Air India is yet to disburse salaries for July due to the acute financial crunch. This is the fourth time this year that salaries have been delayed. The company has a permanent workforce of 11,000 employees.

On Sunday, Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association (ICPA) claimed that as many as 19 aircraft, including 8 Airbus A321, have been grounded for lack of spares, improper planning and coordination by the airline management.

“Overall, almost 23% of the Air India fleet is grounded for lack of spares. To put this into perspective, aircraft worth approximately $3.6 billion or approximately `25,000 crore (at today’s list price) are lying idle in the hanger,” ICPA general secretary Captain Deepankar Gupta wrote to the Air India chief.

Other aircraft grounded include 4 Airbus A319, 5 Boeing 777-300 and 2 Boeing 787 planes, as per ICPA. Air India’s accumulated debt stands at `48,781 crore at the end of March 2017.

Air India