JOIN USThe Civil Aviation Ministry is yet to receive any application from the AirAsia-Tata Sons joint venture for obtaining a licence to set up a scheduled airline in India, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said on Tuesday.
He, however, said there were some procedural issues with the proposed venture, which has already been cleared by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).
“There are some concerns... Some procedural issues. We will look into it quickly. But all that will depend on how fast they provide us the information regarding safety, aircraft, pilots and airworthiness of the aircraft,” Singh said after a CII conference on aviation.
He said, all this information will be required by the aviation regulator the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) before any flying permit is granted to the airline.
According to the plan, the low-cost Malaysian airline, AirAsia, will invest Rs 80 crore and will own 49 per cent in the joint venture, Tata Sons will hold 30 per cent, while the remaining 21 per cent will be controlled by the Delhi-based business man Arun Bhatia’s company Telstra Tradeplace.
Aviation regulator DGCA said it has deregistered 15 aircraft of Kingfisher Airlines paving the way for their return to global leasing companies.
The Director General of Civil Aviation Arun Mishra said he will soon be discussing the
issues concerning Kingfisher’s dues to tax authorities and airport operators.
The move has come after the leasing companies moved to Delhi High Court against the Airports Authority of India’s (AAI) decision to release confiscated aircraft of Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher only after it cleared its dues.
After the decision, aircraft lessor International Lease Finance Corp said it had removed one of six Kingfisher aircraft stranded in India.