Qatar Airways Ltd. is in talks to purchase a stake in IndiGo, India’s biggest carrier, according to an e-mailed statement from the Gulf carrier today.
The “only airline” it is talking to is IndiGo, the Doha-based company confirmed, without elaborating, denying local media reports it was negotiating with rival SpiceJet Ltd. InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., the owner of IndiGo last month filed a draft red herring prospectus to sell shares in an initial public offering.
“It could possibly be they take a minority stake,” Kapil Kaul, the South Asia chief executive officer for the CAPA Centre for Aviation, said in an interview on Bloomberg TV India. But beyond that, he said he didn’t see what “value addition” Qatar would bring to IndiGo.
Low fares and economic growth that boosted incomes over the past decade helped IndiGo find first-time fliers and become the biggest airline in the world’s second-most populous nation. The profitable carrier is a rare bright spot in India’s fiercely competitive aviation sector, where carriers have lost a combined $10 billion since 2009 and IPOs have fallen below sale prices.
IndiGo, which flies mostly within the country, operates a fleet of single-aisle planes from Airbus. The carrier started operations in August 2006 just as a rash of budget airlines entered the country, challenging full-service carriers like Jet Airways India Ltd. on expectations that rail passengers would trade up to flights.
28/07/15 Siddharth Vikram PhilipAnurag Kotoky/Bloomberg
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The “only airline” it is talking to is IndiGo, the Doha-based company confirmed, without elaborating, denying local media reports it was negotiating with rival SpiceJet Ltd. InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., the owner of IndiGo last month filed a draft red herring prospectus to sell shares in an initial public offering.
“It could possibly be they take a minority stake,” Kapil Kaul, the South Asia chief executive officer for the CAPA Centre for Aviation, said in an interview on Bloomberg TV India. But beyond that, he said he didn’t see what “value addition” Qatar would bring to IndiGo.
Low fares and economic growth that boosted incomes over the past decade helped IndiGo find first-time fliers and become the biggest airline in the world’s second-most populous nation. The profitable carrier is a rare bright spot in India’s fiercely competitive aviation sector, where carriers have lost a combined $10 billion since 2009 and IPOs have fallen below sale prices.
IndiGo, which flies mostly within the country, operates a fleet of single-aisle planes from Airbus. The carrier started operations in August 2006 just as a rash of budget airlines entered the country, challenging full-service carriers like Jet Airways India Ltd. on expectations that rail passengers would trade up to flights.
28/07/15 Siddharth Vikram PhilipAnurag Kotoky/Bloomberg
