Air India (AI, Delhi International) has finally been partly paid for chartered flights that it carried out for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reports the Economic Times of India.
As reported earlier this year, the Indian government owes Air India a total of INR7.5billion (USD111 million) for flights carried out for PM Modi and other senior ministers, as well as evacuation operations. A total of INR1.2 billion (USD7.7 million) has been cleared by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) for payment to the national airline for eight trips.
The release of funds comes after a request for information filed by Commodore Lokesh Batra to the Central Information Commission (CIC). Following an investigation, the Commissioner refused to disclose detailed filings about PM Modi's travel expenses, but agreed with Batra that government offices must settle their bills in a timely manner.
Some of the outstanding bills date from June 2014. Air India uses two of its B747-400s for VVIP operations, which are put back into commercial service when not required by the state.
Air India has suffered poor financial performance for the past several years, surviving on a government bailout of INR300 billion (USD4.3 billion) granted to it in 2012. The national airline currently faces a debt of around INR460 billion (USD6.7 billion).
