Air India not to issue tickets to government agencies on 'credit basis'

By Newsmeter Network  Published on  26 Dec 2019 3:35 PM GMT
Air India not to issue tickets to government agencies on credit basis

Highlights

  • Air India has suffered an operating loss of Rs 4,685.24 crore in the financial year 2018-19, according to documents submitted in Lok Sabha.
  • Aviation turbine fuel costs increased from Rs 7363 crore in FY 2017-18 to Rs 10,034 crore in FY 2018-19

Hyderabad: Air India (AI) has stopped issuing tickets to government agencies on credit basis, as a result of non-payment of dues, said the official spokesperson of the airline, on Thursday.

This has come as Rs 268 crore bills raised till date are yet to be cleared. Fed up with the default by several government agencies, airline issued a statement stating, ‘AI has stopped issuing air tickets on credit basis till the outstanding amounts get cleared’.

However, according to sources, the national airliner will continue to issue tickets on credit basis to Lok Sabha Secretariat, Airports Authority of India (AAI), Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and Labour Commission, as they are exempted from the list of agencies. This indicates that IB, CBI, IT and ED besides defence will lose the privilege of getting tickets on credit.

AI has started this exercise three months back as a means to pressurize the authorities to settle the Rs 268 crore due, the statement added.

Air India has suffered an operating loss of Rs 4,685.24 crore in the financial year 2018-19, according to documents submitted in Lok Sabha.

Minister of State (IC) for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri informed the Parliament that increase in fuel cost and the impact of foreign exchange rate variation has led to high operating loss.

“Aviation turbine fuel costs increased from Rs 7363 crore in FY 2017-18 to Rs 10,034 crore in FY 2018-19, which translates to an increase of almost 28.9%. The impact of exchange rate variation led to an increase in expenses from Rs 31 crore in 2017-18 to a whopping Rs 772 crore in 2018-19”.

He also informed that the government is committed to AI disinvestment.

Highlight :

1. Operating Revenue: Rs 25,509 cr

2. Operating Expenses: Rs 30,194 cr

3. Operating Loss: Rs 4685 cr

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