Appoint administrator with political backing in AI: IATA chief

AIRINDIA-IATA
From Amitabha Roychowdhury
Singapore, Jun 13 (PTI) Ailing Air India needs an
effective administrator with full powers and political backing
to take urgent decisions for a turnaround, a top global
aviation official has said.
"If you delay it (merger of human resources of the two
erstwhile carriers) further, it becomes a mess. Between Indian
Airlines and Air India there are many (salary) grades. If it
doesn't integrate well, then it becomes a nightmare", IATA
chief Giovanni Bisignani told PTI here.
To questions on the acute problems faced by the Indian
national carrier, he expressed "disappointment" over the
crucial pending issues relating to the merger of the two
former state-run airlines and said "there has to be a
political consensus because it has to happen fast".
The merger, including integration of employees, "is
something to be handled in a very effective manner. Put an
administrator with full powers. It has taken too much time.
"The administrator should take full responsibility to
take tough decisions. But the decision has to be a political
decision. Therefore, the (administrator's) decisions need
political support", the Director General and CEO of global
airlines' body International Air Transport Association said.
"Give, say, six months time to it (administrator to
take decisions). But before giving any time-frame, make the
airline smaller and efficient", Bisignani said.
"I am not giving any advise. But this limbo situation
cannot be allowed to continue for long. It is a problem for
the passenger, the airline as well as the government as it
continues to burn the national budget. It also creates
problems for safety", he said.
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Observing that it was "much more easier to restructure
when the aviation market is growing" in India, Bisignani said
it was important for India to "have a big national carrier.
The country has to give its national carrier a chance to play
a role."
The IATA chief gave examples of good and bad mergers
in the airline industry, saying there was "a great history of
failures also."
Referring to the 2001-02 merger of Japan Airlines
(JAL) and Japan Air Systems (JAS), he said the two airlines
later sought government protection due to near bankruptcy
situation.
But these airlines were small in size, and therefore
the problems were less than those of Air India, he said.
To questions on the growth in the aviation sector in
India, the IATA chief said the growth in infrastructure was
slow but picking up. "It has been slow, but much faster than
in Europe or the US" as those markets grew over time while the
growth in India was very fast.
While India was the sixth largest market in numerical
terms, the Chinese market was 220 million in absolute terms.
"It is almost four times than India. Indian market is
big and has tripled in five years but still small in numbers".
He also said that India had "more problems than in
China where you take a decision and implement it".
While the Indian market has tripled over the past
five years, the markets in China and Brazil had doubled during
this period.
On the domestic front, India and Brazil showed the
strongest domestic growth of 25.6 and 23.8 per cent
respectively, Bisignani quoted IATA figures as saying. PTI ARC
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