Air India expects first round of govt funding by Jan

MUMBAI (Reuters) - National Aviation Company of India Ltd, which runs ailing carrier Air India, said it expects the first installment of government funding to the tune of 4 billion rupees by Jan 2010.

Aviation Minister Praful Patel said earlier in November India will infuse equity into the state-run carrier by March, but the airline would have to generate 20 billion rupees through cost cuts and revenue gains.

Further installments would be linked to savings effected on account of cost-cutting exercise adopted by the national carrier at various levels, the company said on Tuesday.

Air India will cut its fleet size and network in the coming months it added.

(Reporting by Aniruddha Basu; Editing by Sunil Nair)

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