Air Costa may ride on foreign airline

Regional carrier Air Costa could strike a deal with a foreign airline as early as end-December to either sell a part of its stake or forge a marketing alliance for feeding their international flights, company CFO Vivek Choudhary said.

The airline hopes to get better valuation from investors as it has secured flying permit from aviation regulator directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) to have pan-India operations.

“We have been talking to them (foreign carriers) for the last 3-4 months. With pan-India permit, we hope to get better valuation and close the deal early, maybe in a month or two,” Mr Choudhary said.

But industry watchers said that it would not be easy for Air Costa to get funds arguing that most of the carriers from Gulf & Middle East countries like Etihad, Emirates and Qatar Airways go to most of the points in the country and may not need a carrier with 3-4 aircraft fleet. They are not very confident of the airline securing foreign fund given its poor financial health.

Apart from Gulf-based carrier, Air Costa is also in talks with an airline in the South East Asia.

Kapil Kaul, India head of global aviation consultancy Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, however, feels “it (a deal with foreign airline) looks tough and does not seem to be feasible.”