UAE: Air Arabia To Buy Part Of FlyEasy

FlyEasy
Type Scheduled Carrier
Base Bangalore Int'l
Aircraft 2

FlyEasy (Bangalore Int'l) is in talks to sell a 49% stake to the UAE-based LCC Air Arabia (G9, Sharjah).

The start-up is currently undergoing certification with India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) with plans to operate a fleet of ex-nasair (Saudi Arabia) (XY, Riyadh) EMB-190s.

Though neither carrier would specifically confirm or deny the talks, Air Arabia has said in the past that it views the Indian market with great interest.

Thus far, three foreign operators have secured footholds in Indian carriers including Etihad Airways (EY, Abu Dhabi Int'l) in Jet Airways (9W, Mumbai Int'l), Singapore Airlines (SQ, Singapore Changi) in Vistara (UK, Delhi Int'l), and AirAsia (AK, Kuala Lumpur Int'l) in AirAsia India (I5, Chennai). Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad Int'l) CEO Akbar al Baker has alluded to acquiring stock in the recently listed InterGlobe Aviation, parent to the country's largest LCC, IndiGo Airlines (6E, Delhi Int'l).

Interest in local carriers is expected to surge should Narendra Modi's government concretize proposals in its draft National Civil Aviation Policy to allow foreign operators to hold more than the current 49% of scheduled local carrier stock. In a bid to further stimulate the sector, government this week further relaxed foreign ownership caps on non-scheduled carriers from the current 74%, to 100%.