The Air India pilots' strike is over. Reinstated pilots are happy. Their derecognized union, promised re-recognition, is happy. And the Center's happy the Maharaja's been reactivated. Not too happy are passengers: flight cancellations had them grounded or paying through their noses to rework travel plans. The 10-day agitation meant an estimated Rs 200 crore revenue loss, adding to the Rs 13,300 crore losses AI's incurred since 2007. So, taxpayers won't be happy either. They're the ones paying as the government staggers from crisis to crisis with a national carrier in perennial need of public-funded bailouts, writes The Times of India in its editorial. Excerpts: As things stand, all the strikers have got are promises of demands being “looked into”, including the pay parity issue. For its part, having initially taken the hard line, the government comes away looking soft, unable to treat the debt-strapped carrier's real malaise. Mismanaged, overstaffed, AI's made bungling use of existing resources and government dole while taking questionable decisions on acquiring assets it could scarcely afford. Numbers from an AI internal report tell the story: with a total daily expense of Rs 62 crore, AI faces a staggering daily deficit of Rs 57.5 crore. Deducting repayments from average daily earnings of Rs 22 crore from domestic operations, it's left with a paltry Rs 4.5 crore for everyday operational expenses! Yet the issue of AI's privatization has been skirted. True, AI serves a social purpose running routes private companies would not think commercially viable. The solution is to have dedicated state-run services to remote, backward areas on a smaller, cost-effective scale. Equally, private players can be incentivized to run such flights, say, under the ambit of corporate social responsibility. Any argument that public sector behemoths like AI are “family silver” to be kept within the family is specious. Mismanagement, morally hazardous lack of financial accountability and the resultant scope for patronage politics and corruption are turning silver to scrap. A mammoth, money-draining public sector defies logic in post-reforms India. Besides being playgrounds for politicians and bureaucrats, eyesores like state-run airlines and hotels score low on quality and profitability. Consider also the strangle-held coal sector's poor productivity, increasing import-dependence and hampering key sectors like power. If anything, evolution of aviation and telecom shows how crucial private enterprise is. As government monopolies, both kept services out of bounds for millions. Opened up, telecom saw phone subscribers rise from five million in early-1991 to 723 million by late-2010. And, courtesy private airlines, people across social strata access greater choice, competitive pricing and customer-friendly service. Health, education and infrastructure are the areas government should focus on. Concerning business, could it please play facilitator rather than show stopper? __
