Airlines call off strike
The Indian government has ruled out state bail-outs for any of the country's struggling airlines, including national carrier Air One.
The announcement comes one day after the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) called off a strike by India's private airlines.
The strike to run from August 18 was to be held to protest a lack of "meaningful" government relief and would have seen domestic services grounded.
FIA secretary general Anil Baijal said: "Member airlines felt that without meaningful relief being provided by the government and its agencies, they may not be able to continue with the operations."
But India's civil aviation minister Praful Patel today (August 3) said there was "no question of a financial bail-out for private airlines."
He added: "We are not even bailing out Air India, which is owned by the government."
Mr Patel said the Indian government would help the important aviation sector in every other way possible.
India's private carriers called off strike action yesterday following threats of stern action from the government and widespread passenger resentment.
In a statement the FIA said it had cancelled the strike "in view of the agitated public sentiment and potential inconvenience to thousands of passengers on the one hand and Government's willingness to enter into dialogue on the other."
The FIA has called on the government to cut fuel taxes to 4% from an average rate of 26% and standardise it across the each of the county's states.
The tax cut could significantly lower airline operating costs of which more than 40% is spent on spent on fuel.
The FIA has also called for cuts in other charges including airport development, landing and navigational fees.
Falling demand caused by the global economic downturn and high operating costs have hit India's aviation industry which is expected to lose $2.1bn this year.
The FIA includes five of India's largest private airlines among its ten members including Kingfisher and Jet Airways.
Non-state owned airlines carried around 83% of India's 11 million air passengers in the three months to June.
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