Airline heads meet PM, seek tax cuts, cheap loans

With private airlines posting huge losses and Kingfisher struggling to stay afloat, heads of private carriers met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought his intervention on Saturday to tide over the difficult times.

With private airlines posting huge losses and Kingfisher struggling to stay afloat, heads of private carriers met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought his intervention on Saturday to tide over the difficult times.

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After an hour-long meet, the PM did not make any specific commitment, but said that “legitimate grievances” would be addressed.

The airline chiefs, sources said, requested government intervention in securing bank loans at lower costs, tax cuts on aviation fuel and reduction in airport charges.

Present at the meeting were Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal, IndiGo promoter Rahul Bhatia and CEO Aditya Ghosh, SpiceJet CEO Neil Mills, Kingfisher CEO Sanjay Aggarwal and Go Air owner Jeh Wadia. Mallya, however, wasn’t present.