Swiss aviation firm shows interest in bidding for Air India
09 Apr 2018
Aviation advisory firm Swiss Aviation Consulting (SAC) has shown interest in bidding for debt-burdened national carrier Air India, The Economic Times reported citing senior aviation ministry officials.
The move, however, did not look serious and the Swiss company may only be scouting for clients, the newspaper said, citing industry experts.Swiss Aviation Consulting offers services including aircraft asset management and sales and consultancy services on acquisitions, according to its website.
According to its LinkedIn profile, SAC is privately-owned and is independent of any financial institution, manufacturer, operator, insurance company or maintenance provider.
Air India and Swiss Aviation Consulting did not respond to media requests for comment.
Last week, top Indian carrier Interglobe Aviation Ltd, owner of the IndiGo brand, said was opting out of buying Air India because the terms set by the government were unfavourable.
Other foreign companies that could bid for the national carrier are Singapore Airlines with the Tata group and Air France KLM with Jet Airways. Turkey’s Celebi Aviation Holdings has also expressed interest in buying some of Air India’s operations.
The Indian government, which fully owns Air India, put the company on the block late last month, seeking to sell a 76 per cent stake.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet gave the go-ahead last year to sell Air India after successive governments spent billions of dollars to keep it solvent, but its debt load of about $8 billion and a bloated cost structure have made a sale difficult.