Future of Air India
By: Kartikeya Semwal
Air India the country’s national carrier is in news these days due to its ailing condition. The national airline has a huge debt of Rs. 52,000 crore and is currently running due to government funding of Rs. 30,000 crore. Now the Indian government has decided to sell its stake in the airlines by privatizing it. The idea is good but the question is- who will buy Air India and pay off its huge debt? And who has the guts and enough finances to revive its economic condition?
Though the answers to those two questions aren’t clear yet but Indigo, a private airlines and Ratan Tata have shown interest in buying Air India. The next question comes- Why would anyone buy the national carrier? The answer is simple- Air India has daily flights to 72 national and 41 international destinations. It has a fleet of 140 planes of which many are new. Air India has prime properties in form of offices in Delhi and Mumbai which are priced at 16,000 crore. It also has prime properties in Hyderabad and Chennai and has 8% stake in Air Mauritius. The national carrier also has a collection of priceless paintings by renown painters such as M.F. Hussain. 
Though there might be ways to deal with the huge debt of Air India but an effective way is to reduce its workforce by half. Air India currently has 2000 pilots, 2000 engineers and 4000 cabin crew. They can be reduced to half which in-turn will save considerable amount of income that goes in paying their salaries. Another effective way is by selling collection of paintings and 8% stake in Air Mauritius. One more way is to reduce air fares to a competitive price and urge people to travel by the national career and help reduce its debt. Till date, Air India is the costliest airlines in the country due to which most of the people don’t prefer travelling by it.
We don’t know what will happen. But one thing is for sure- that Air India will be in safe hands and be back to profit making, minus debt. Good Luck Air India. 

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