Kingfisher ready to swoop down over Air Deccan

New Delhi: Kingfisher Airlines chairman Vijay Mallya is interested in picking up a stake in low-cost carrier Air Deccan, though his plans may not be very immediate in nature.
“Am I interested (in buying stake in Air Deccan)? Yes. Am I imminently acquiring it? Not decided as yet,” Mallya told reporters at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.
“I don’t have any current plans to acquire Air Deccan,” he added.
Captain G.R. Gopinath, chief executive of Air Deccan, however, told The Telegraph: “With due respect, Mr Mallya is talking rubbish ... Air Deccan is not up for sale. We are actually bigger than Kingfisher and we operate in a different market (low-cost one).”
Rumours that Kingfisher may take over or buy a stake in Air Deccan have been doing the rounds since mid-April. However, Air Deccan has been denying the rumours, while Kingfisher has been silent on the issue.
Mallya,whose Kingfisher Airlines is billed as a full-service carrier, had last year sought to acquire Air Sahara. But the deal fell through as Mallya felt Sahara was demanding too steep a price.
Media reports today suggested that one of the original promoters of Air Deccan wishes to exit the airline and was in talks with possible buyers, but not with Kingfisher Airlines. Even this had been denied by Air Deccan.
07/05/07 The Telegraph, India

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Categories: Air Deccan May 2007, Kingfisher May 2007