Amid objections raised by the environment ministry over the proposed Navi Mumbai Airport, civil aviation minister Praful Patel today said there is "no question of change" in the project site.
"Whatever we have chosen, I will say, is final. There is no question of change in site (of Navi Mumbai Airport," Patel told reporters here.
Earlier, a section of media had reported that the ministry of civil aviation was mulling to change the site for the proposed second airport in Mumbai due to environmental issues.
"The ministry had examined (the issue) in great detail before approving Navi Mumbai Airport site and to just say that the site can move from here to there is not so easy," Patel said.
"Technically also, the site has to be feasible," he added.
Patel said there were certain issues with the ministry of forest and environment over the proposed airport and they need to be resolved.
"The ministry of environment should certainly look at all the aspects. As far as I know, the ministry of environment last year did come out with a notification giving permission rather allowing the construction of a greenfield airport in the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) area," he said.
However, the improvement in the financial performances of QI was offset due to fuel price hike, depreciation and interest costs, he said.
"The fuel cost increased by Rs390 crore mainly due to 33% rise in the fuel prices while depreciation and interest due to the induction of the new fleet also went up by Rs292 crore," the minister said.
Air India is looking at 29% increase in its operating revenue in the current financial year as against 11% last fiscal, Patel said.
He said that Air India's financial restructuring would also include reduction in the debt cost besides other components.
SBI Cap has been appointed by Air India to prepare a complete financial restructuring plan, he said, adding that it is expected to submit the plan by August.
"The interest rates at which Air India has borrowed are higher. It needs to replace high-cost debt with low-cost debt," Patel said.
Equity infusion was the other component which aims at reducing the debt-equity ratio to a reasonable extent, he observed.
Patel said that the air carrier would also launch feeder routes to smaller cities with smaller aircraft as part of its route rationalisation.
Air India chairman Arvind Jadhav said that the company was expecting to achieve a 'positive balance sheet' by 2014/15.
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