PM to induct new aircraft into Air India fleet

Nagpur, July 27: The first lot of new aircraft being acquired by public carrier Air India would be formally inducted into the fleet by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi tomorrow, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Praful Patel said here today.

Speaking to newspersons Mr Patel said five of the 111 new aircraft being acquired by the carrier had been delivered. The remaining were to be delivered over the next three years and included the Boeing as well as Airbus aircraft, he said. The inaugural flight of the new aircraft would be from Mumbai to New York on August 1, he said.

Mr Patel said the Union Government would notify a policy for regional airlines within the next 15 days. The regional airlines would serve tier II and tier III cities he said. No parking charges would be levied and there would be a concession in the duty on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) for jet as well as turbo-prop aircraft, provided the capacity was below 80 seats, the Minister said, adding that 49 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), allowed in the aviation sector, would be allowed in regional airlines also.

Mr Patel informed that the Maharashtra Government had not yet submitted a proposal on what it intended to do after it took over the Nagpur Airport for the Multi-modal International Air Passenger and Cargo Hub at Nagpur (MIHAN) project here. ''The Union Government must know what exactly the State Government intended to do after it takes over the airport. The take-over has to be justified. The Union Government will have to study the proposal before making a decision as the matter is related to aviation,'' he said.

Mr Patel said he had sought a meeting with Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to discuss the implementation of the MIHAN project and was awaiting a reply.

There were plans to improve the air connectivity of Nagpur with Chennai and Bangalore by introducing new flights in the near future, Mr Patel said.

The merger of Air India and Indian Airlines, expected to be completed by early next year, would result in savings of Rs 500 crore every year, he said.

UNI