New Delhi, July 3: With the Public Service Undertaking (PSU) airliner - Air India - declaring that it doesn't have adequate funds to pay the salaries of their employees beyond October, the Central government is mulling to privatise the debt-ridden carrier soon, informed Union minister of civil aviation Hardeep Singh Puri said in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

Giving a reply during the question hour, Puri informed the Upper House that even as Air India had excellent assets and aircraft, it was incurring a loss of Rs 15 crore per day. Due to which the government was looking to make the carrier more 'viable, revive it and then disinvest it'. Air India Crisis Deepens: Troubled National Carrier May Not Be Able to Pay Employee Salaries Beyond October

According to reports, published in The Mint, Air India has already a debt of Rs 59,000 crore, out of which the Union government has proposed to retire Rs 29,000 crore to special purpose vehicles. Though the government had planned to privatise the airliner last week, the idea was kept on hold due to volatile oil prices and exchange rates.

As per to the last report, the Union government had infused Rs 3,975 crore into the airline in the fiscal year ended 31 March and had tried to sell 76% stake. The government though failed in its attempt, but said it would return with an alternative proposal soon. Air India Pilots Reject Airline's Decision to Revise Salary Structure, Fear 25% Pay Cut.

Earlier on, Air India pilots rejected the airline’s decision to revise their salaries to bring them on par with pilots operating other aircraft pilots. The revised salary structure would slash the salaries of wide-body aircraft pilots by 25 percent.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 03, 2019 02:49 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).