Government will wait for IndiGo to bid for Air India, says Civil Aviation Secretary

The government will wait for budget carrier IndiGo to bid for Air India, informed Civil Aviation Secretary on Monday.

“Let us see whether IndiGo will bid or not. We will wait for them,” said Civil Aviation Secretary RN Chaubey while talking to reporters on the sidelines of a CII event in New Delhi.

He further added that the government intended to make the divestment process to the ‘earliest’ and asserted that Air India’s operations would not be split in the bidding process.

The civil aviation secretary’s comments came after IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh on April 5 that his company was opting out from the bidding process as it was interested in acquiring Air India’s international operation which is not available under the disinvestment plan.

On a question if ministry was open to the idea of selling Air India’s domestic and international operations separately, Chaubey said, “Currently, we are not looking at the option of splitting Air India’s operations.”

The last month, the ministry had come out with the preliminary information memorandum on Air India’s strategic disinvestment.

IndiGo was first airline to express its interest to bid for Air India but decided not to participate in the bid after the government came out with the EOI on March 28.