In an expected decision, the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment (CCD) formally took Air-India and Indian Airlines off the disinvestment list paving the way for the public sector carriers to modernise their fleet in the face of severe competition in domestic and international sectors.The move would enable the two airlines to go ahead with their fleet expansion and modernisation plans, which are already in the final stages. The CCD, chaired by PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, approved the proposal of the civil aviation ministry to remove IA and A-I from the disinvestment list. Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain said that the privatisation of the two carriers was not feasible at the present juncture as world airlines and the aviation industry at large were on a downswing and no major airline or aviation company was willing or in a position to invest.A meeting of the Public Investment Board is scheduled for next week in order to give a thrust to the process of aircraft acquisition.The CCD had in 2000 decided to divest government stake in the two airlines, but the disinvestment ministry could not complete the process as the qualified bidders, including Tatas and Singapore Airlines, withdrew in the final stages due to various factors. The IA board has recommended purchase of 43 Airbus aircraft over a five-year period between 2003-08 at a cost of Rs 10,089 crore, A-I plans to acquire 17 long haul aircraft costing over Rs 13,000 crore including ten on firm basis and the rest on option.The last decision to acquire planes for the domestic carrier was taken in 1986 and 1989 and they were inducted between 1989 and 1994. Besides 30 A-320s inducted in this period, IA’s ageing fleet also comprises five A-300s (over 20 years old) and 11 Boeing-737s (21 years), which were transferred to its subsidiary Alliance Air on lease. On the other hand, the private carriers — Jet Airways and Air Sahara — had expanded rapidly in the past few years and now possessed technologically advanced and a younger fleet of planes.
