Mumbai:
A few weeks back it was the ailing national carrier that made headlines while the government does have a bailout plan for Air India, what about us say private airlines, who are hoping the government will help them cut costs.
Eight major private airlines, which carry over one-lakh passengers a day, have decided not to operate domestic flights on August 18. The airlines say they are on the verge of bankruptcy and want a bailout from the government.
In a statement, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, who is in Mauritious, asked the airlines not to inconvenience passengers and engage in dialogue.
Civil Aviation Minister's statement"The government understands the problem but does not support any move that will inconvenience passengers. We advise the airlines to engage in a dialogue. Tax on aviation turbine fuel is a state issue and the aviation ministry has been requesting state governments to see reason. The other issue relates to global slowdown and the impact of high aviation turbine fuel in 2008-09. Air India will not participate in this decision of the private airlines and will offer additional services on August 18 to reduce any inconvenience to people."
Although airlines have said they will reimburse passengers for their tickets of August 18, travellers are still going to be badly hit.
Consumers seem to be divided on what the government should do.
"Government should give bailout to all private airlines. The reason being many companies are making lot of cost cuttings. In order to benefit the public, the government should take some steps to bailout these companies till market recovery,'' said Prateesh Shrivastava, a passenger.
"All these private airlines are making good amount of profits when markets were in boom and no body had asked the government where should they invest them. No airlines company was interested in making any kind of investment in government sector and now when there is recession in business, they want bailout, it is like arm twisting the government,'' said Naveen Vyas, another passenger.