The central government has decided to allow domestic flights even if both pilots in the cockpit are foreigners. This will help airlines utilise their fleets optimally, and not keep planes grounded owing to a shortage of pilots. The present rules stipulate the presence of a trainee Indian pilot in the cockpit if both the commander and the co-pilot are foreigners, to ensure there's no communication gap between the pilots and the air traffic control (ATC), owing to a possible language barrier.
UB Group holding company may sell a stake in airline business
added:
7/24/2007
United Breweries (Holdings) Ltd. plans to sell 20 per cent of its aviation business to private equity investors in a bid to raise $250 million.
As per sources, private equity firms including Cerberus Capital, TPG and Blackstone have initiated talks. Cerebrus is believed to be the front runner.
United Breweries (Holdings) owns 83 per cent of Kingfisher Airlines and 26 per cent of budget airline Deccan Aviation Ltd. Vijay Mallya, who also heads United Breweries and United Spirits, owns 55 per cent of United Breweries (Holdings) and 25 per cent is held by foreign funds.
Low-cost airline Air Deccan, which was recently acquired by Vijay Mallya who runs Kingfisher announced that it will start serving complimentary mineral water on all Air Deccan flights. Till now, Deccan was strictly a no-frills airline, offering no food or drinks on board.
Needless to say, the mineral water is from Kingfisher, the new bosses at Air Deccan. Besides keeping customers happy, the move is also an attempt to promote the Kingfisher brand among Air Deccan passengers.
