Advertisement
In its RTI response provided on Wednesday to Commodore Lokesh Batra (retd), who sought to know the latest data on outstanding bills of Air India, the carrier said as, on November 30, 2019, Rs 822 crore were pending towards VVIP charter flights.
It also said that an additional Rs 9.67 crore towards evacuation operations and Rs 12.65 crore towards ferrying foreign dignitaries were also pending.
Under VVIP charter flights, Air India provides its aircraft to ferry the President, the Vice-President and the Prime Minister for which the bills are paid by the ministries.
Related Articles
Advertisement
Out of Rs 526.14 crore, Rs 236.16 crore were pending for over three years, Air India said in its response.
The airlines also said provisioned Rs 281.82 crore as an accounting charge in its account books for “probable non-recovery”.
Batra had sought “updated (till the date of response), completed and detailed information (including dates and invoices)” on total pending dues towards VVIP charter flights and amounts owed by different public authorities towards Air India among other details.
The information under the RTI Act is defined as any record in any form held by or under the control of public authority which has to be furnished to an applicant within 30 days subject to exemptions under the law.
According to a response provided by the Civil Aviation Ministry on December 5, 2019, a net loss of Rs 8,556.35 crore (provisional) was reported by Air India.
On Wednesday, the ministry said that the reasons for losses reported by Air India were a high-interest burden, an increase in competition especially from low-cost carriers, the adverse impact of exchange rate variation due to the weakening of the Indian Rupee, and high operating costs.