By - Siddhant Gupta

20172022

The airlines debt burden of around ₹48,781 crore as of January 2019, has made it largely
unappealing and problems for the national carrier are not stopping. Recently Air India had to
ground 4 of its Boeing 777’s because it doesn’t have money to maintain it. A Boeing 777-
200LR’s AC unit caught fire at Indra Gandhi International Airport few hours before it’s take-
off to San Francisco. The Ground staff at the air terminal named it as a ‘minor accident’. Post
Balakot Airstrike, Pakistani Airspace was shut for commercial traffic due to which Air India
has endured misfortunes of around Rs. 300 crore in the previous two months as its flights to
the Gulf, Europe and the US from New Delhi have to be diverted around the Pakistani
airspace. Flights to the US from Delhi are now taking 2-3 hours additional one way and
Flights to Europe are taking two hours additionally resulting in financial losses to about Rs. 6
crore daily. Sunday was no better for stranded Air India travellers, as the five-hour shutdown
of the carrier's check in programme, which happened on Saturday, continued its ripple effect.
Around 127 flights faced an average delay of three hours. The travellers kept on venting their
rage via social networking sites as the airline was not able to issue boarding passes. There has
been a severe shortage of crew members for a year now which is forcing the airline to hire
the staff that failed the fitness test.
The only way out right now for Air India is government intervention The Government has
cleared an arrangement to exchange about Rs. 29,000 crores of its Rs. 55,000 crore debt that
will help reduce airline’s annually interest from Rs. 4,400 crore to Rs. 1,700 crore. The
airline has additionally raised Rs. 1,000 crore from the National Small Savings Fund,
provoking analysis over the cash from this source being utilized to shore up a weak
organization. The bailout bundle for Air India was looked for by the aviation ministry after
the organization was unabe to find a buyer for a 76% stake in the bearer. The administration
sources said divestment is still on the plan.

Source-
https://www.businesstoday.in/sectors/aviation/air-india-loses-rs-300-crore-in-2-
months-due-to-pakistan-airspace-restrictions/story/341498.html
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/san-francisco-bound-air-india-flight-catches-fire-at-delhi-
airport-during-repair-work-2028280