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Of the 68 Boeing aircraft ordered in 2005-06,
27 were long haul B787s. The Comptroller and Auditor
General of India (CAG), which reviewed this deal
and another order for 43 Airbus planes for the
erstwhile Indian Airlines termed the acquisition
process ill-timed and driven from the top.
When asked about the deal, Ravi said the airline's
finances were in a mess and the government had
not decided yet whether to confirm the deal or
call it off as it could not pay for them. The
delivery of these planes has also been delayed
for over three years.
"I don't have the money to pay. I cannot
beg the finance minister all the time for the
money. It is difficult, this is the position now,"
Ravi told television channels.
"The government cannot say we are confirming
or we are rejecting, the workers also know that
now... but it is not delivered so far, we have
not paid so far. I don't have the money to pay
for it also," the minister added.
Air India and Indian Airlines were merged in
April 2007 into the National Aviation Company
of India Ltd. (NACIL), which has since been renamed
as Air India.
The CAG said the initial proposal to acquire
aircraft was made in 1996. But soon after the
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government assumed
office in 2004, the procurement process picked
up and the deal was wrapped up in seven months.
The deal also saw Air India altering the acquisition
plan, at the behest of the civil aviation ministry,
from buying 18 small capacity short-range aircraft
and 10 medium capacity long-range planes in January
2004 to 50 medium capacity long-range aircraft
in November 2004, taking the total requirement
tally to 68.
The CAG's report deals with the period the Nationalist
Congress Party's Praful Patel was the civil aviation
minister. Patel is now the heavy industries minister.
Reacting to the report, Patel told reporters
on Thursday: "In 2004, Air India and Indian
Airlines had 93 aircraft, most of which were 20
years old. There was no way the airlines could
have withstood the global competition with these
planes."
"Whatever the government did in its wisdom
was to make the airline commercially viable. We
had to decide immediately as to whether new planes
should be bought otherwise the airline would have
closed down," Patel had said. (IANS)
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