India eyes relief package for struggling airlines

Ministers in New Delhi are pushing for a package of relief measures to help India’s ailing airlines, which are struggling to cope with a sharp rise in oil prices and a collapse in the rupee. The country’s domestic aviation market has been growing more quickly than any in the world for the past few years, but airline profits have dropped off in the past 6 months because of higher fuel prices. Officials have said that there are 3 measures under consideration: reducing the tax on aviation fuel, reducing the tax on aircraft servicing and allowing companies to borrow more. But they added that ministers were not yet considering bailouts of individual companies such as Jet Airways, preferring instead to see what happens during the lucrative festival season in the last 3 months of the year. <br/>