Is FDI in two carriers by the same airline allowed?

Neelam Mathews

Dec 11, 2012,    9.24pm

There's a news snippet I just read in Gulf News that "Etihad Airways has entered into a $553 million (Rs30 billion, Dh2.06 billion) buyout of a 48 percent stake in debt-ridden Indian carrier Kingfisher Airlines (KFA), highly placed sources in Kingfisher confirmed on Tuesday" 

AerospaceDiary could not confirm any of this.

There are a few queries that come to mind- What happens to the Jet Airways-Etihad deal we are hearing about? Can the same foreign carrier invest in two Indian airlines? What will be the ramifications? What does the Competition Commission of India have to say on this? What will it do to domestic fares?

Here's what the rest of the article says:

Etihad will initially buy a 30 percent holding this month and a further 18 percent by next August, reads the news. However, the formal announcement for the same is likely to come on December 18, the 57th birthday of Kingfisher chairman Vijay Mallya.

According to sources, before the deal was worked out, Etihad and Kingfisher met twice in Abu Dhabi in October this year. Last week, Mallya met the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and informed the regulator that the company is in talks with an airline. He also mentioned that a revival plan will soon be submitted to the regulator.

Prakash Mirpuri, Vice-President, Corporate Communications, United Breweries (UB) group, refused to divulge much details but expected the year to end on a positive note. “I would not like to comment on speculation but I can tell you that we are likely to have a wonderful Christmas. Hope you would appreciate that being a listed company, one is bound with certain governance-related legislations. However, without any degree of definiteness, it will be prudent on my part to just say things are good with us,” Mirpuri told the Gulf News.