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Vistara is evaluating bidding for Air India, its Chairman Bhaskar Bhat said on Monday.
“Which company would not be interested in evaluating a sovereign airline of the country?” Bhat asked journalists after unveiling the airline's first Boeing 787-9 aircraft.
The government is seeking to sell 100 per cent of its equity share capital in the state-owned airline, including Air India's shareholding interest of 100 per cent in Air India Express and 50 per cent in Air India SATS Airports Services Private Ltd.
When asked about the issue of debt being passed on to the new owner, he said that was something for the evaluation to find out.
To a question on whether Vistara or Tata Sons was evaluating the bid for Air India, the Vistara Chairman said: “We (Vistara) are a joint venture.”
First on domestic routes
Meanwhile, Vistara will deploy the new aircraft, which it received on Sunday, on domestic routes before using it on international ones. “We have announced that we plan to deploy these aircraft in the domestic sector before we launch international. (This is) partly to train our crew and partly to get the product right,” Leslie Thng, Chief Executive Officer, Vistara, said.
He said the first commercial service of the aircraft will be some time this month and “of course Delhi-Mumbai will be one of the routes on which we will deploy this aircraft. We intend to deploy it on international routes anytime between April to June,” Thng added.
When asked how many Boeing 787-9 aircraft Vistara will need to launch international operations, Thng, said: “Technically one aircraft is enough to do an international operation. We will receive the second Boeing 787-9 aircraft at the end of this month.”
“We want to make sure we have the approvals before we announce we are flying into a country,” Thng said.
Vistara is to induct another Boeing 787-9 aircraft later this month and plans to have six such aircraft by May next.
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