According to the Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Praful Patel, our national carrier Air India is undergoing a strong recovery as is evident from its figures of the first quarter of this year. He said that there is no need for any job cuts or wage reduction since the growth plans involve making use of the existing manpower.

In the previous year, the airline got an equity infusion of Rs. 800 crore from the government and with the aim of qualifying for the second round worth Rs. 1200 crore maximum this year, the airline planned to give better performance.

Air India's present account debt is around Rs. 18,000 crore and its passenger revenue has gone up by 28 percent to Rs. 546 crore and its cargo revenue has gone up by 61 percent to Rs. 92 crore over the year.

Though this improvement was marred by the increase in the price of fuel by Rs. 396 crore due to the hike by 33 percent, the airline company has shown an aggressive increase in its operating revenue by 29 percent for 2010-11.