Aim to improve airline’s efficiencies: AI chief

“My mandate is to manage the airline, provide good services, improve efficiencies and keep a tab on cost,” Kharola said at the airline’s New Delhi-based headquarters Airline House. According to Kharola, the airline will forthwith focus on providing better services to the “Business Class” passengers, along with commencing some more direct connections to the US and Australia. 

The senior bureaucrat took charge as Air India CMD on Dec 11, 2017, before which he was the MD of Bengaluru Metro. Kharola replaced Rajiv Bansal, Financial Advisor to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry, also holding additional charge of Air India CMD. 

Kharola’s mandate becomes difficult given that a ministerial group has been formed to look into the modalities of Air India’s divestment process. The Air India-specific Alternative Mechanism, headed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, has been mandated to guide the strategic divestment process and to decide on key issues such as treatment of the airline’s debt and hiving-off of its assets.

The demerger and strategic divestment of its three profit-making subsidiaries, the quantum of disinvestment and the universe of bidders is also on the group’s agenda. Recently, the government appointed consultancy firm EY as the transaction advisor for the strategic divestment. Till now budget passenger carrier IndiGo has evinced interest in buying the airline’s international operations and its subsidiary Air India Express. 

Aviation industry majors SATS, Bird Group and Celebi have shown interest in buying Air India’s ground handling unit. Currently, the airline is under massive debt burden of Rs 50,000 crore, had posted an operating profit of Rs 105 crore in 2015-16. For the last fiscal (2016-17), the company was expected to report an improved operating profit margin.