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The Union Civil Aviation Ministry should not bow its head before the pressure tactics being used by the private airlines in the country who are threatening to take the passengers to ransom to pressurise the government to concede their demands.
The private airlines: Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, SpiceJet, IndiGo and GoAir, which between them carry about one lakh passengers daily, have ganged up and decided to suspend operations on August 18 if the government does not help them cut costs. Painting a desperate picture of their situation, the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) said unless the government helps them by lowering taxes on jet fuel and bringing down airport charges, their survival is in doubt.
FIA general secretary Anil Baijal is on record saying that the planned August 18 “boycott” was to “highlight the urgency for the government to intervene immediately”. FIA wants the government to classify jet fuel as a ‘declared good’ to tax it at a uniform 4% rate throughout India. Jet fuel accounts for nearly half of operating costs for airlines in the country, the highest in Asia.
The FIA strike call coincides with the with discussions that may result in the government bailing out the beleaguered national carrier Air India which has suffered losses of Rs 7,200 crore last year. The private airlines also wanted the government to bail them out on the lines of Air India.
It is true that the private airlines are in deep red as is evident from the fact that they had accumulated losses of Rs 2,444 crore in 2007-08.
But the moot question here is, why the government should bail out an industry which caters exclusively to the higher strata of society. If they are making losses they should find a way like reducing of operational costs, hiking of fare, etc. It is beyond one’s understanding why the government should come to the rescue of such an industry which does not have anything to do with more than 99 per cent of the one billion people of this country.
Instead, the government has several more urgent matters to address. Like the spiraling prices of food items. The government will do well if it ignores the private airlines’ call for resuscitation and should take on them sternly.
After all, this is tax payers’ money, don’t waste it.
RSS 
It's not just the question of tax payers money, it's the question of growing hegemony of private air lines. These private airlines are the big business houses and can bear the losses for some time. Government should not accept the illegitimate and illogical demands of these companies.
