Govt officials told to fly with AI while travelling on work

Government said on Thursday it has issued directives making it mandatory for its officials to fly with Air India while traveling on work.

"Since Air India is the national carrier, these instructions (for government officials to fly with Air India) have been issued. This is in line with what other countries have issued to their officials in the use of their national airlines," civil aviation minister Praful Patel said while replying to a Lok Sabha query.

"This would generate revenues for the national carrier as Air India is improving its load factor and revenues," he added.

Meanwhile, replying to another query, the minister said that National Aviation Company of India Ltd had submitted a proposal for infusion of equity of Rs 1,231 crore (Rs 12.31 billion) and provision of soft loans worth Rs 2,750 crore (rs 27.5 billion) in the last fiscal.

In reply to another query, the minister said that the passengers carried by NACIL had increased by 2.9 per cent during April-June this year as compared to the same period during 2008.