|
|
|
|
|
|
Air India, Indian Airlines IPOs by Q1 2006, says minister New Delhi: State-run carriers Air-India and Indian Airlines will float initial public offerings by the first quarter of 2006, Indian Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Friday. "Therefore, we are going to the capital markets. We will give IPOs (initial public offering) of Indian Airlines and Air-India by the first quarter of 2006. We will also give employees stock options so that they feel they are a part and parcel of the company," Patel said at an Economic Editors' conference in New Delhi. He, however, added that public sector carriers would not offload over 20 per cent of their equity in the proposed IPO and the employees would also be given stock options. India, which has seen several private carriers start operations in the past year, is expecting a never before increase in passenger traffic. State-owned Indian Airlines, which has for decades enjoyed a monopoly in providing domestic air services, has been facing tough competition from private players like Jet Airlines, Air Sahara, Air Deccan and Spice Jet, which are luring fliers with cheaper fares. Global interest in the Indian aviation industry is strong, as local air travel demand is expected to rise nearly nine percent annually over the next 20 years. However, a word of caution has come from industry bigwigs, who say that the present infrastructure is both obsolete and inadequate and cannot cope up with the present volume of air traffic. The situation, therefore, doesn't augur well for the industry's future. Patel called for an integrated approach to address the issue of poor infrastructure by liberalizing the sector and concentrating on non-metro Indian cities, which would account for sectoral growth. "Therefore, I can assure you that it is a combination of the two, on one side is the liberlisation of the sector, making the sector much more, I would say, open, easier and simultaneously a calibrated approach to bring the world class infrastructure quickly to place not only in Mumbai and Delhi, but across not only the major metros, but also non-metros which will ultimately drive aviation. If Mumbai and Delhi account for more than half of India's aviation today, this cannot be a sustainable scenario in the years to come." India's
average annual air travel is 0.1 trip per person, a fraction of the global
average of 2.0, industry figures show. India hopes to award bids for modernising
the airports at its commercial hub, Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay,
and New Delhi by end-December. India had received 11 bids to upgrade the
two airports in September. India, Asia third-largest economy, is trying
to revamp its shabby overburdened airports and bring them upto international
standards to keep pace with a rapidly growing economy. Patel also said
that the Indian airlines sector is expected to grow 25-30 percent in the
fiscal 2005-2006. He said he anticipated growing sector growing at 25
percent each year for the next five years. Domestic travel has seen a
boom in recent months due to rising incomes in Asia's third-largest economy.
|
Travel
Sites
Tourist
offices |
|
|