AI chief meets Cabinet Secretary as carrier faces financial crunch

NEW DELHI: Cash-strapped Air India on Saturday appealed to all its staffers to tighten their belts to face a major financial crunch, as its top man Arvind Jadhav met Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar here and discussed how the government could help the company face the financial rut.

The meeting Jadhav and Civil Aviation Secretary Madhavan Nambiar had with Chandrasekhar came after Air India approached the government for infusion of funds by way of equity, soft loans and a grant.

The ailing carrier, facing a situation similar to that of its private competitors Jet Airways and Kingfisher, has asked its top management not to take their July salaries and allowances and deferred by a fortnight the payment of June salaries and productivity-linked incentive (PLI) for all its 30,000 staffers.

Air India's losses for the last financial year are estimated at around Rs 4,000 crore, up from Rs 2,226 crore in the previous fiscal.

The demand made by the national carrier to the government comes in the wake of its orders for 111 new planes worth over Rs 45,000 crore against a puny paid-up capital of Rs 145 crore and authorised capital of Rs 1,500 crore.

Even as he discussed the financial crunch with the government, Jadhav issued an appeal to all employees asking them to unitedly "fight for survival of our own airline."