National carrier plans to charge hefty annual sum for such services
National carrier plans to charge hefty annual sum for such services
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Travelling with Air India may soon become a costly affair for the VVIPs, including the President, the
Vice-President and the Prime Minister, as the loss-making national carrier is all set to charge Rs 800 crore annually for the VVIP services.
A top official of the civil aviation ministry said, "Yes, it is true that the civil aviation ministry has written a letter to the Union finance ministry.
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We have demanded to fix the amount of VVIP travel at Rs 800 crore. We are expecting reply from the finance ministry soon."
At present, Air India, a state-owned company, charges a nominal fee from the VVIPs that sums up to a few crores of rupees.
"The Jumbo aircrafts are exclusively used for ferrying the VVIPs and rest of the time when there is no movement, they remain parked.
It is weighing heavy on the pocket of the Air India to run these flights, so we have asked the finance ministry to increase the rates," said the official.
There are a few other reasons that might have prompted the national carrier to increase the charges for the
VVIP services.
"Air India does not even want to keep these jumbo jets. No doubt these aircrafts are luxurious, but they are fuel-guzzlers also.
Nowadays, most airlines are using Boeing-777 aircrafts for the international operations, but the Air India is bound to operate the fuel-guzzler flights for the VVIPs.
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If there is no VVIP movement, these jets are used in domestic sectors like Thiruvananthapuran and Kozhikode and in international sectors like Riyadh which is a costly affair," said an official on the condition of anonymity.
In December 2010, the government decided to infuse Rs 1,200 crore as equity in the national carrier. It also asked the Air India management to rationalise the wage structure of over 25,000 employees.
The officials of the airlines and civil aviation ministry have already started taking initiatives to cut the loss of the national carrier.
Both the civil aviation minister and the CMD Air India were not available for comment.
VVIP service
Three Jumbo jets and two sets of cabin crew on duty and two more sets of crew are kept standby for flying VVIP flights. Even the pilots, operating on these flights, cannot go for advanced trainings.
During these VVIP visits, the airline has to arrange special food for the VVIPs and for the delegation, including costly liquor. This is a permanent fleet and just cannot return until the VVIPs return to the country.
These services are normally availed by the President, the PM and the VP, but in case there is any special delegation led by senior ministers it also avail the facilities.
Numbers crunch
Last year, aviation minister Praful Patel had announced that Air India was expected to incur a loss of Rs 5,400 crore. However, the balance sheet for National Aviation Company of India Ltd (NACIL) showed a whopping loss of Rs 7,200 crore in the 2009-10 fiscal.
Heavy losses
May 2010: Around 15,000 crew members and maintenance engineers of Air India went on a strike with issues related to a gag order by the company and pending salaries.
September 2009: About 200 Air India pilots had reported sick in protest against a 50 per cent cut in their productivity-linked incentives PLIs and demanding payment of their due flying allowance of three months.
According to government reports, the agitation incurred a loss of more than Rs 100 crore.
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