Air India would need a bailout package of around Rs 4,500 crore to bring the national carrier out of financial crisis, civil aviation minister Praful Patel said here today.

“The government needs to put in around Rs 2,500 crore of equity, which can be repaid in future once partial disinvestment takes place. You can look at another couple of thousand crore by way of soft loans, which is again repayable,” Patel told a news channel.

On the proposition of eminent personalities such as Ratan Tata, N R Narayan Murthy and Sam Pitroda joining the Air India board of directors, he said, “Why not? Ultimately if such people are willing to contribute for a public cause, for bringing the national carrier back on track, I think it is a great thing.” Explaining their role, Patel said “they would be independent directors”.

He said that the government was still talking to some eminent personalities and would come out with the names of those who would be part of the Air India board once it is finalised. “Some of them have said yes but until I formalise the whole thing, I would not like to disclose their names,” the minister said.

Hectic activity is on at the national carrier’s headquarters for preparing a comprehensive financial restructuring plan, which is to be submitted to the government in the next few weeks. AI’s losses mounted to about Rs 5,000 crore in 2008-09. The plan would be vetted by a high-level committee headed by Cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar, which would be monitoring each month the steps taken by the airline to cut cost and enhance revenue generation.

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