New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear the PIL filed by Janta Party President Subramanian Swamy challenging the Air Asia deal on Friday.
The PIL was filed after the Finance Ministry granted approval to the Malaysian airline to launch operations in India. Claiming it to be a fraudulent deal, Swamy had said that the AirAsia deal needs to be re-examined. He had also written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh raising questions of corruption involved in the deal.
AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes had hit back at Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy for calling his company's deal with the Tata group for a new airline "fraudulent". Fernandes said that the Indian aviation industry is missing great opportunities due to vested interests.
Malaysia's AirAsia, the largest budget carrier in Asia, plans to launch a regional airline in India. The new airline, AirAsia India, will be managed by the Malaysian company and will be based in Chennai. AirAsia will hold a 49 per cent stake in the joint venture with the third partner being Telestra Tradeplace.
India's aviation industry, which has seen continued losses due to high operating costs and regulatory uncertainty, was opened to foreign investors in September, 2012. Foreign carriers are now able to purchase up to 49 per cent of local airlines.
Comments
0 comment