New Delhi: The Government has come under fire from yet another parliamentary panel.
The standing committee on civil aviation has slammed the Government’s decision to exchange a fresh air services agreement with Abu Dhabi as “prime facie” a move to facilitate one airline to strike a deal with a foreign airline for selling its stake at a huge premium.
On April 24, hours before India and Abu Dhabi exchanged an air services bilateral, which enhanced to 36,670 seats a week that airlines from the two countries could operate, Jet Airways had announced that it was issuing 2.72 crore preferential shares to Etihad Airways, the national airline of Abu Dhabi, giving the Abu Dhabi airline a 24 per cent stake in Jet.
The allocation of shares was done at a substantial premium to the closing price on the NSE of the previous day. The deal is valued at Rs 2,050 crore.
03/05/13 Business Line
