Government to also take over Air India’s unpaid bills of Rs 16,000 crore

NEW DELHI: The new holding company for Air India, which will take over real estate, paintings and other non-core assets of Air India, will also be saddled with piles of unpaid bills from the hemorrhaging national carrier, in addition to loans from banks.

These “excess liabilities” being transferred to Air India Asset Holding Company Ltd add up to Rs 15,834 crore — which is more than a quarter of the airline’s total debt, pegged at Rs 61,562 crore at the end of August.

So what are these “excess liabilities”? Government sources said these are largely unpaid bills of oil companies, airport operators and other vendors that Air India had managed to avoid paying over the years by virtue of being a wholly-owned government company.