Air India to clear salary dues before closing stake sale deal; will be more attractive to buyers

State-run carrier Air India will clear employee dues with arrears before it closes the stake sale deal with the successful bidder, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Monday. The airline, which is currently reeling under a debt of Rs 80,000 crore, employs about 17,984 people and the airline has been withholding salaries of these employees for months now amid severe cash crunch. The government, which has been desperately trying to offload its stake in the loss-making airline, is also looking to make Air India more lucrative for the prospective buyer. To that extent, it has decided that about one-fourth of Air India’s total dues will be left in the airline’s books and the rest will not be absorbed by the buyer.