Indigo, Qatar Airways rubbish news of buying Air India

Market was buzzing with the news of a possible tie-up between domestic budget carrier Indigo and Qatar Airways to buy debt-laden Indian national airlines Air-India.

The rumours only brought to fore a new contender for the distressed assets of Air-India, fondly called the Maharaja. Both the companies have denied news reports that said Indigo and Qatar Airways were in talks to acquire Air-India.

The government is finalizing modalities to start the sale of Air India and its subsidiaries. The government aims to complete the sale by the end of the year. Earlier, Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation had said that Air India sold as four different entities.

Air India, Air India Express and ground services subsidiary AISATS would be sold as one entity, while Alliance Air would be sold separately. Some of Air India's other subsidiaries include IAL Airport Services Limited, Airline Allied Services Limited, Air India Engineering Services Limited and Hotel Corporation of India Limited.

Indigo was among the first to officially express interest in the assets of Air India, although it was an unsolicited one. Tata-Singapore Airlines, which operate Vistara airlines are also open to gaining access to the assets of Air India. Recently, there were reports that a consortium of Jet Airway, Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines were planning to bid for AI, however, Jet Airway's partner Etihad Airways denied the reports. 

Another South-Eastern airline major, AirAsia also wants to expand in India and might participate in the divestment of AI. While, Celebi, a Turkish ground-handling services firm has expressed interest in buying Air India's Air Transport Services Limited (AIATSL).

Air India has a debt of around Rs. 52,000 crore and the government may transfer part of it to separate entities before selling the stake, thereby making it a bit attractive to the buyers.

Meanwhile, at 11:20, InterGlobe Aviation, the parent company of Indigo Airlines was trading at Rs. 1,262.60 per share, down by 0.32 per cent on Thursday.