No proposal to refer Indian Airlines before BIFR : Government

New Delhi, Dec 12 (UNI) The Government today said it did not propose to refer Indian Airlines before the Bureau for Industrial Reconstruction (BIFR).

Mr Prasanta Chatterjee (CPI-M) asked whether the profits earned by the national carrier for the last three financial years would be taken before referring the issue to BIFR.

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said the question did not arise at all.

To another question, he said the Indian Airlines did not earn any profit during 1993-94, 1994-95 and 1995-96. The profit or loss of Alliance Air was not reflected in these figures since it started its operation from 1996-97, he said.

To a question of Mr C Ramachandraiah (TDP) on whether the government proposed to formulate the guidelines making it compulsory for the new and existing airlines to disclose the fund sources for the aircrafts they planned to acquire, the minister replied in the negative.

He said some airlines had reported that they were incurring low profit or even losses in their operations.

Regarding delays in Air Deccan flights, the minister said the airlines had told the ministry that their on-time performance was almost at par with other domestic operators and generally the scheduled private airlines were adhering to the time schedules.

However delays due to weather conditions, technical snags and mandatory security checks were some of the reasons beyond the control of the airlines, he said.

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