Mumbai: Union Minister Jayant Sinha, who was in Mumbai on Tuesday, said that the civil aviation ministry would finalise norms for the no-fly list in the first week of July. He also said that the government is looking at all the options for revival of the national carrier, including privatisation.
The ministry, in the first week of May, had come out with the draft rules for a national no-fly list of unruly passengers. As per the draft norms, the national no-fly list will include names of passengers identified as unruly and the ban could be anywhere from three months to an indistinct period.
The list will also include people identified as a threat by security agencies but the ban by the committee will not be mandatory for all the airlines to follow.
The minister said that the ministry has received an extremely comprehensive and detailed feedback from stakeholders and they will be working on them.
Speaking on the possible privatisation the national carrier, the minister said that all the options are on the table and it is for the Cabinet to take a decision on how best to move forward. The NITI Aayog has recommended to the Prime Minister's Office a “complete” privatisation of the airline.
However, the topic had caught fire when Finance Minister Arun Jaitely had told that the civil aviation ministry has to look at all possibilities of privatising Air India with the employees coming forward to donate and contribute towards paying off the debts of the carrier. They have even offered to give up their perks.
The airline has more than Rs 50,000 crore debt and was given a Rs 30,000-crore bailout package that was given by Congress in 2012.
