The Indian Government has purged the senior management of state-owned Air India and Indian Airlines airlines, claiming it wants to speed up their privatisation.
The civil aviation minister, Ananth Kumar, dissolved the joint board of Air India and Indian Airlines on 11 December, days after the board announced plans to form a joint holding company in a move towards merging the two state-owned carriers.
The former board members have been replaced by government officials. Anil Baijal, joint secretary for civil aviation, and civil aviation secretary P V Jayakrishna, have been appointed as the new chairmen of Indian Airlines and Air India, respectively.
Local media reports say Kumar believed that forming a holding company would be a mistake, as both carriers need to maintain independence as they each head for privatisation.
According to civil aviation ministry officials, the privatisation plans are "totally separate and different" for each of the airlines, and a completely new plan would have had to be formulated in the event of a merger.
The Indian Disinvestment Commission recommended in August that a 40% stake in Air India should go to an international strategic partner, with another 20% being sold to domestic investors.
In June, the government had announced plans to reduce its stake in Indian Airlines to 49% within three years. It now says it plans to fulfil its disinvestment scheme for both airlines by the end of 1999.
Four days after the dismissals, ministers also ordered the sacking of Vinoo Kashyap, managing director of Indian Airlines' low-cost subsidiary Alliance Air, claiming he bears "moral responsibility" for a recent crash of a Fairchild Dornier 228 at Cochin, in Southern India, in which nine people died.
Kashyap has been replaced by Indian Airlines deputy managing director J R D Rao.
Source: Flight International
