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'More fund will be infused into A-I'

With divestment put on hold due to lack of bidders, more funds would be infused into Air-India, Union Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain has said.

"We want to make investment and then divestment", he told reporters at the airport in Bangalore late Tuesday night before flagging off A-I's first flight from Bangalore to Jeddah, which ferried 410 Haj piligrims.

He also said Indian Airlines would purchase 40 aircraft costing Rs 90 billion.

Hussain said the government was working towards bilateral arrangements with several foreign airlines and talks were on with the airlines of Italy and Royal Jordan.

China too was expected to operate two flights a week from Delhi to Beijing either in February or March, he said.

Likewise, Iran would also operate a direct flight to Teheran from Delhi and two via Kabul.

India, he said, was keen on having more bilaterals and "we are open-minded".

Hussain said Air-India was expected to make profit this fiscal, for the first time since 1995, noting that it was the only international carrier in the world, which was doing better in the post-September 11 period.

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