Debt-laden Air India eyes sale of scrapped aircraft engine parts to garner revenue

New Delhi: Air India has sought business proposals for the sale of scrapped aircraft engine parts, a move that may provide additional revenues for the disinvestment-bound national airline.
The carrier plans to salvage select engine parts under a profit-sharing arrangement, failing which they would be sold as scrap, as per a tender document. The proposal comes at a time when the government is working on the modalities for disinvestment to revive the debt-laden flagship carrier.
According to the document, the airline is seeking business models on a profit-sharing arrangement for possible salvaging of selected engine parts and generate revenue through sale and marketing of such salvaged parts. “In the event where there is no possibility of salvaging, the bidder will have to make arrangements to destroy/dispose of the same as metal scrap and offer maximum revenue value for such disposal sale at agreed rates and no cost to Air India Ltd,” it said.
Further, successful bidders will have to collect the material from respective sites as well as arrange for cross-country transportation, export clearance and repair.
Last month, Air India CMD Rajiv Bansal said the airline planned to vacate unused hangar space at some airports and sell the scrap lying there to cut costs. “There is a lot of unused material lying in hangars and unnecessarily we are holding on. So, we can get some money by selling the scrap and also save rentals by leaving the space,” he had said.
The flagship carrier has a debt burden of more than Rs 50,000 crore and is surviving on a Rs 30,000 crore bailout package extended by the previous UPA regime. The government has decided to go for strategic disinvestment of Air India and its five subsidiaries.

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