New Delhi: The Civil Aviation Ministry is likely to move a cabinet note on the proposed merger of public sector carriers Air-India and Indian Airlines in November after it receives a report from consultancy firm Accenture.
"There are no impediments in the process. Everything is going on as planned", Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said.
He added that the consultancy firm, appointed to prepare the roadmap for the merger of the two state-owned carriers, would submit its report in October.
"We hope the cabinet note on the matter should be ready by November after we receive this report", Patel said in response to questions, adding that the proposed merger process was moving on track and would be completed as planned within the current financial year 2006-07.
Official sources said there were some key areas like human resources, operations and infrastructure, which needed to be looked into in greater detail, before the proposal could be finalised.
A decision on the future of their subsidiaries, Alliance Air and Air-India Express, would also have to be taken.
The merger of Air-India and Indian would churn out a mega carrier with about 130 aircraft that could take on major global carriers like Singapore Airlines, Emirates and British Airways.
The global aviation scenario has witnessed mega mergers in the past few years, like KLM-Air France and Lufthansa- SwissAir. However, India's first and much-hyped Rs 2,200 crore
takeover bid of Air Sahara by Jet Airways failed and is now before the courts.
Comments
0 comment