Mumbai: Etihad Airways , which is in talks to acquire a stake in Jet Airways (India) Ltd. (532617.BY), has bought the Indian carrier's three pairs of landing and departure slots at London's Heathrow airport for $70 million.
The transaction, and expectations that the two companies are close to announcing a deal on Jet's stake drove the Indian carrier's shares up more than 19% to close at 534.85 rupees on the Bombay Stock Exchange, where the benchmark index rose 0.7%.
The agreement for the landing and departure slots was signed Tuesday, Etihad said in a statement. Jet will continue to use the slots on lease, the Abu Dhabi-based company said.
Takeoff and landing slots at Heathrow, the busiest airport in the world, are a highly prized commodity and sell for millions of dollars as the airport is running at full capacity.
27/02/13 Anirban Chowdhury/Dow Jones Newswires/Zawya
