Air India owes Rs2,310 crore to oil companies
24 Nov 2011
New Delhi: Air India and its subsidiaries owe Rs2,310 crore to oil marketing companies, civil aviation minister Vayalar Ravi informed the Lok Sabha today.
"Till the end of first fortnight of September, Air India has a total due of Rs2,310.65 crore, of which the cash strapped national carrier owes Rs1,563.67 crore to Indian Oil Corporation, Rs409.82 crore to Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Rs337.16 to Hindustan Petroleum Corporation," he said in a written reply.
A Group of Ministers last month agreed to grant a credit period of three months as sought by airlines management to help it arrange finances.
"The credit period, however, was agreed without exempting Air India from payment of interest," the Minister said.
The national carrier has an accumulated debt of Rs22,000 crore as working capital loans and around Rs21,000 crore as aircraft acquisition loans.
In reply to a separate question, the minister also informed the House that Air India had withdrawn services from 14 routes, which were not profitable.
According to the minister, a pilot strike from 27 April to 7 May, resulted in a revenue loss of Rs200 crore to the carrier.
