In what can be termed as a daring act, the major private airline operators on Friday, served an ultimatum to the govt, “Bail us out or we won’t operate !”. This was an unprecedented, one of its kind scenario, where all the private airline operators came together & threatened to suspend operations on Aug 18 if the aviation ministry fail to perceive their miseries & bail them out! The Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) which includes Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways, Spicejet, Indigo all unanimously voiced their displeasure with the aviation ministry doing v. little under these times of dire economic crisis & urged immediate help.Rather they almost blackmailed the govt with a threat to pull out of service if not bailed out!
The FIA says that the industry will lose upto Rs.57000 cr this year due to the low fares, exorbitant ATF costs & of course the steep fall in the passenger traffic! During 2008-09, Air Deccan, now Kingfisher Red, billed losses of about Rs.798 cr, Kingfisher Airlines lost Rs.409 cr, Jetlite suffered losses of Rs.441 cr & Jet Airways registered losses of Rs.253 cr approx. Hmmm, baffling, isn’t it?
“We are bleeding. Everybody is bleeding. Giving a helping hand to the airline industry is done all over the world!” said Mr. Naresh Goyal, chief of Jet Airways. Mr. Vijay Mallya, the chairman of Kingfisher also said that the indifferent attitude shown by the govt. towards the aviation sector was not fair. Their policies to continue levy exorbitant taxes even under crunch times was lashed out by all the representatives of the various private airline operators. But the Civil Aviation minister, Mr. Praful Patel had a tart reply. He said “We understand the problems of the aviation sector. However, we don’t support any move that would cause inconvenience to the public“. He also added that Air India would not participate in the strike & also more flights would be deployed to help the public on that day. Bravo !! a brilliant reply for an open blackmail !!
So, now the million dollar question – should the tax payers’ money be used to fill the pockets of the pilots & the air-hostesses? Well, most of India says no, so do I. Factually speaking, its just a meager 5% of the Indian population who travel by air. So standing upside down & bailing out of these private airlines by the govt wouldn’t be a wise call. Also these airlines don’t give any share in the profits to the govt. So why should the govt give them companionship during times of loss? Of course, we do understand its crunch time, but how many sectors & how many industries will the govt bail-out? Also the govt has already taken up the uphill task of cleaning up Air India’s mess. Its not that the govt has done nothing. The credit limit for the operation of the airlines has been considerably increased. Most of these airline operators owe huge amounts to the govt owned fuel agencies, yet they are being supplied with fuel without any hitch whatsoever. So, I guess the govt has done something to support them during tough times, but a bailout would be preposterous. Instead, I feel, these big-heads & pioneers of some amazing flight plans must chalk out a Plan-B & redraft their strategies & fight for survival. Of course, this is what corporate India has been so famous for, adaptability & versatility. So, let them put their arithmancy, commerce & brain power to test & revive themselves, of which they must be capable of! Also, a little on the contrary, the govt can also go a step further & offer some more benefits like a tax reduction or something like that to revitalize the sector, for a lot of shareholders’ money is at stake! a lockout of any of these aviation firms would be detrimental to the Indian economy. So, the govt needs to act with care & foresight. Also, it would be a tough job for the govt to make a call- whether these private airlines deserve anything like big financial aid or not? Whatever it may be, it seems like there’ll be more food for thought & debate ! !
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