Sale of debt-laden Air India set for final approval

Narendra Modi is just days away from giving the final go-ahead for the govt to sell off Air India, according to officials in Delhi. People involved in the talks have said that cabinet ministers will meet to discuss the plans and give their final approval possibly as early as this week. It will signal the beginning of the end of nearly 70 years of public ownership of the airline, which led Asia into the age of the jet engine but is now loss making and highly indebted. Jayant Sinha, the aviation minister, said: “Air India has been and should be a great global airline…The transformation process that we have under way for Air India includes governance, operating performance fleet acquisition and ownership changes. We believe these will position Air India and the Indian aviation industry well for the future.” <br/>