New Delhi: The mystery foreign player who has expressed interest in acquiring 49 per cent of soon-to-be-privatised Air India is not a “known foreign airline”. In January-end, the government had disclosed that a foreign company had given an “unsolicited expression of interest for AI’s airline arm” but had not revealed its identity.
“The foreign company which has approached us is not a known airline and it is not known if it is behind a known airline. It wants 49 per cent stake in AI’s airline arm as per Indian rules and we are not sure if it wants its name to be made public yet,” said a highly placed source.
Apart from this mystery foreign player, so far only IndiGo has given a formal expression of interest for AI’s airline arm. The Tata Group-Singapore Airlines (SIA) JV Vistara has said it has an “open mind for AI if it makes business sense”. SIA is learnt to be very keen on AI. Other players like Jet are watching from the sidelines as they are waiting for the bid documents to know exactly what is for offer and for how much.
Meanwhile, Qatar Airways — whose CEO Akbar Al Baker on Tuesday had reaffirmed the plans to start an airline in India — is yet to begin the formal process to do so. “Qatar Airways has so far not applied for launching an airline here,” said a senior aviation ministry official. Al Baker had told the media in France “we will launch an airline in India which will have a fleet of at least 100 aircraft”.
Qatar Airways has been keen to pick up a stake in IndiGo for years but the Indian low cost carrier has been “politely declining” the same. Now with Air India being privatised, industry insiders there are chances of Qatar Airways tying up with an Indian carrier to bid for the Maharaja. The airline has not commented on this issue so far.
“Launching a new airline makes little sense as big Indian airports like Delhi and Mumbai have hardly any slots due to a crippling infra crunch. On the other hand, buying AI means getting its slots not just in Indian airports but also abroad,” said a source.
23/02/18 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
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“The foreign company which has approached us is not a known airline and it is not known if it is behind a known airline. It wants 49 per cent stake in AI’s airline arm as per Indian rules and we are not sure if it wants its name to be made public yet,” said a highly placed source.
Apart from this mystery foreign player, so far only IndiGo has given a formal expression of interest for AI’s airline arm. The Tata Group-Singapore Airlines (SIA) JV Vistara has said it has an “open mind for AI if it makes business sense”. SIA is learnt to be very keen on AI. Other players like Jet are watching from the sidelines as they are waiting for the bid documents to know exactly what is for offer and for how much.
Meanwhile, Qatar Airways — whose CEO Akbar Al Baker on Tuesday had reaffirmed the plans to start an airline in India — is yet to begin the formal process to do so. “Qatar Airways has so far not applied for launching an airline here,” said a senior aviation ministry official. Al Baker had told the media in France “we will launch an airline in India which will have a fleet of at least 100 aircraft”.
Qatar Airways has been keen to pick up a stake in IndiGo for years but the Indian low cost carrier has been “politely declining” the same. Now with Air India being privatised, industry insiders there are chances of Qatar Airways tying up with an Indian carrier to bid for the Maharaja. The airline has not commented on this issue so far.
“Launching a new airline makes little sense as big Indian airports like Delhi and Mumbai have hardly any slots due to a crippling infra crunch. On the other hand, buying AI means getting its slots not just in Indian airports but also abroad,” said a source.
23/02/18 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
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