Wadia-SIA’s Indian MRO deal faces setback over differences

Mumbai: A much-touted joint venture between the Wadia Group and Singapore Airlines’ engineering arm SIA Engineering Co., for opening an aircraft maintenance and an aerospace training centre in India, has hit a major roadblock owing to differences of opinion.
“The joint venture project has not taken off yet due to differences in opinion. The Wadia Group has not agreed to the terms and conditions put forth by the company,” said an SIA Engineering executive who does not want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue. “Key executives of SIA Engineering would be meeting the Wadia Group on Monday. The joint venture may be called off if there are no amendments made to the existing conditions.”
Another person familiar with the development, who does not want to be named, said the cost of the project has gone up substantially from the initial estimates. The project structure will also result in increased cost for servicing the fleet of GoAir, run by the Wadia Group. He added that some of the clauses are not favourable to GoAir.
Jeh Wadia, managing director of Go Airlines (India) Pvt. Ltd, which runs GoAir, insisted “the joint venture with SIA Engineering is well on track,” adding that “the information about dropping the project is purely market speculation.”
24/09/07 P.R. Sanjai/Livemint

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Categories: Foreign Sep 2007, GoAir Sep 2007, New Sep 2007