Hardeep Singh Puri 'confident and hopeful' about Air India's divestment, disinvestment plans

Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday said that he has never been as "hopeful and confident" on Air India's divestment or disinvestment as he is now.

Addressing a press conference here, Puri said, "I have never been as hopeful and confident on Air India's divestment or disinvestment whatever you choose, as I am now. I have always said that Air India is a first-class asset. It has excellent engineers, excellent pilots, covering various destinations be it the evacuation of people from Wuhan, Air India has been at the heart of it."

"And I think, we need to make some decisions on nationalisation. We may have lost two or three months because of the pandemic, but we have gained a lot of experience in terms of the value and how to take this forward," he added.

Commenting upon the resumption of international flights, Puri said, "The notion that international traffic has opened up and we are the only one not to open up, needs a reality check. The exact time when international flights will be resumed depends on whether other countries are open to receive flights."

"In absence of a decision on resumption of international civil aviation which will depend on other countries opening up, we are left with no option but to continue what I call evacuation and repatriation flights under managed and controlled conditions," he added.

( With inputs from ANI )