New
Delhi: Following reports of Vijay Mallya chairman Kingfisher Airlines, evincing
interest in acquiring a stake in Air Deccan, the managing director of the low
budget airline G R Gopinath came out with a sharp hands off reaction saying, "we
are not for sale". "We
are not for sale..... We are three times bigger (than Kingfisher) in routes and
operations." Gopinath
added for good measure that, "He (Mallya) must restrict himself to running
his own airline rather than talking about Air Deccan." Mallya
had earlier said he did not have any current plans to acquire Air Deccan. However,
earlier there were reports that the UB Group, promoting company of Kingfisher
Airlines, was interested in taking over Air Deccan. Mallya and Gopinath were also
reported to have held parleys on the issue. Air
Deccan is India''s largest low-fare airline with over 350 daily flights and a fleet
of new Airbus A320s and ATRs. Mallya,
whose Kingfisher Airlines is positioned as a full service-true
value carrier, had last year sought to acquire Sahara group-promoted Air Sahara,
but the deal never happened due to differences over valuation.
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