This move, according to the minister, may help bring down the total cost of acquisitions.
"There may be a delay. But it can help us save, considering the size of the deal," Patel said adding that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would take a final call on the issue.
Indian Airlines' decision to acquire 43 Airbus A 320s for Rs 9,475 crore (Rs 94.75 has received criticism some quarters, including members of parliament who had pointed out recently that the state-run carrier could have got a better deal.
Similarly, Air India's decision to buy 68 aircraft for about Rs 30,000 crore (Rs 300 billion), had also come under fire.
On the issue of allowing persons of Indian origin invest in Indian domestic aviation sector, Patel said the Cabinet would take a final call on the issue.
"The department of economic affairs has cleared the issue. But the cabinet needs to be informed. We will take a call at that time," he said adding that the present aviation policy only allowed Indian nationals to invest in domestic airlines.
Patel also said the companies bagging the privatisation and modernisation project of the Delhi and Mumbai airports might have to invest less in the first two years as the government had decided to cut down the minimum capital cost investment in the initial phase.
As per the new transaction documents, the initial investment required to be made for the Delhi airport has been reduced to Rs 2,600 crore (Rs 26 billion) from Rs 4,220 crore (Rs 42.20 billion).
Similarly, for Mumbai, the cost has been reduced to Rs 2,800 crore (Rs 28 billion) from Rs 4,478 crore (Rs 44.78 billion).
"Bidders have told us that such a huge investment is not possible in the first two years after taking over the airport as it will take about a year to prepare the master development plan of the airport. Therefore we have decided to bring the investment required to be made in the first two years. However, there is no reduction in the scope of the project," Patel said.
Patel also said the government was taking various steps to decongest the Delhi and Mumbai airports and had appointed an agency to submit a report on this.
The agency, according to Patel will submit a report to the government on the steps to be taken on this.
"We are also hiring about 100 personnel in the immediate future to meet the manpower requirements at the airports," he said.
The bill to set up an airport economic regulator is also expected to be introduced in the Parliament in its current session. The government is also considering to allow setting up of airports with in the radius of 75 kilometres to improve the airport infrastructure in the country.
"We need more airports. There is an areas restriction with regards to international airports. But, in the case of domestic airports, we may allow multiple airports in the same areas," Patel said.
In addition, as a step to speed up aircraft handling at airports, the government is likely to stipulate specific time bands turbo propelled aircraft can use at airports.
