Government committed to keeping Air India alive: Ravi

Bangalore: The central government was committed to keep embattled, state-owned flag carrier, Air India, standing on its feet and towards this end was open to pumping in more funds into the airline, civil aviation minister, Vayalar Ravi, said Monday.

"The government is committed to look after Air India. We will ensure it has a cash flow and is in a better position to meet its expenditure like salary and fuel charges," Ravi told reporters on the margins of a civil aviation conference.

Ravi said the strategy was to put the airline back on the rails over the next six months.

"I think situation will improve. The prime minister has agreed for appointing four directors from outside the organisation to the posts of marketing, human resources, finance and commercial," Ravi said.

Ravi inaugurated the regional celebrations of the "Civil Aviation Centenary" and addressed a seminar on the "Strategies for growth of civil aviation in the current decade", organised by the Society of Indian Aerospace Technologies & Industries (SIATI).

As of now the aviation ministry is awaiting the outcome of a meeting of the group of ministers constituted to look into the restructuring of the airline, which is due to meet sometime towards the end of this month.