HYDERABAD: The newly appointed Air India chairman and managing director Ashwani Lohani, who is serving his second stint in the beleaguered flag carrier, on Friday said that managing the humongous debt is proving to be an uphill task for the airline.
Addressing the students at the ISB Policy Conclave, Lohani said, “Right now the biggest challenge we face is handling debt. There is a huge backlog of losses…. the second is running the organisation well. The first challenge is a bigger challenge,” he said, adding that AI is a “great organisation” that has been facing legacy issues post the Air India-Indian Airlines merger in 2007.
Air India has a total debt of around Rs 55,000 crore and the airline had reported loss of Rs 5,337 crore during FY18. Interestingly it was during Lohani’s first stint, Air India had logged its first operating profit of Rs 105 crore in FY17 post the merger.
