The Hindu Business Line : Air India, Indian merger by March-end

Mr Patel said that the initial public offer of Indian has been temporarily shelved. It would be considered only after the merger of Indian and Air India.

MR PRAFUL PATEL

Kolkata , Sept. 11

The cut-off date for the proposed merger of the two state-run airlines, Air India and Indian , has been fixed as March 31, 2007, according to Mr Praful Patel, Union Civil Aviation Minister.

According to him, consultants are preparing both short-term and long-term reports of the proposed merger after studying the changing dynamics of the global and domestic aviation sector.

On Monday, he was talking to reporters after attending a meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee on Civil Aviation.

Mr Patel said that the initial public offer of Indian has been temporarily shelved. It would be considered only after the merger of Indian and Air India.

"Post-merger it would be a bigger and stronger entity. So, chances of getting a better valuation further increases. So, the IPO would come only after the merger," he said.

When queried about a time frame for the proposed merger, he said that it would be over by the end of the current financial year, 2006-07. "We have decided that March 31, next year would be the cut-off date," the Minister added.

AERA Bill ready

The draft bill for the formation of Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) is ready and would soon be placed before the Union Cabinet. Subsequently, the Bill would be placed before Parliament.

According to Mr Ajay Prasad, Union Civil Aviation Secretary, the proposed authority would be a three-member body. Apart from the Chairman, there would be two other individuals with experience in this sector.

Mr Prasad, who was also in the city for the consultative committee meeting, appeared unsure when queried whether the AERA Bill could be placed before Parliament in the Winter Session.

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