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IA staff urge PM to shelve Tata Airlines project

The Indian Airlines Officers Association today submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister A B Vajpayee urging him to intervene and reject the Tata Airlines proposal as the entry of a major airline would adversely affect the national carrier.

Association General Secretary P D Shenoy said the entry of Tata Airlines would convert the existing domestic carriers, including Indian Airlines, into loss-making companies as they were already flying with more than 30 per cent seats unoccupied.

''We in the industry have witnessed the decline in Indian domestic passenger traffic over the last two years. We see no indication of any improvement of the market conditions at least in the immediate future,'' the memorandum said.

The association claimed that no careful review had been made of the Tata proposal by the civil aviation ministry on its compliance with the new guidelines.

''The applicant has not given complete information about its foreign equity participation nor has he given any information about the technical service agreements proposed to conclude with Singapore Airlines. We believe the agreement will be a backdoor entry of Singapore Airlines into the domestic aviation industry.''

The association also appealed to the prime minister not to allow the divestment of Indian Airlines but convert it into a private company. It said the announcement by the finance minister that the government's stake in Indian Airlines would be reduced to 49 per cent had created a lot of industrial unrest and problems in the national carrier.

UNI