Restrictions handicap us financially: Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani's open letter

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Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani has written an open letter over the government initiative towards disinvestment of Air India. In the letter, Lohani writes that Air India functions in a competitive environment, wherein the competitors are not constrained by procedures and restrictions placed financially and operationally. 

"Being an airline we function in a competitive environment in which our competitors are not constrained by procedures and restrictions that we face placing us at a handicap both financially as well as operationally," one of the statements in the letter read. 

Further, the Air India CMD wrote that the airline has always been known for its excellent human resource that has often set examples for others to emulate. 

Debt-laden Air India Ltd is making a renewed bid to raise funds by auctioning about 38 real estate assets, including some it could not sell in previous auctions by lowering the reserve price of some of the properties.

The current auctioning lot has several properties, which have been put on sale multiple times previously but failed to attract bidders even at the base price.

Meanwhile, Gulf major Qatar Airways on Thursday said it is not interested in buying a stake in India's national carrier Air India, which will be up for sale soon. The airline neither sees any synergy with Air India’s operations, nor believes that acquiring the airline will help it to boost its operations in India.

“No! We are not interested in Air India,” Akbar Al-Baker, CEO of Qatar Airways, replied to a question on the airline’s interest in Air India.

Al Baker, however, reiterated his interest in buying a stake in IndiGo. “We are only interested in IndiGo,” he said to a follow-up question on the airline’s interest in inorganic growth opportunities in India.

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