Tata SIA Carrier to Take Off in 2014

Friday, 1st November 2013 at 04:40am

The proposed carrier of India's Tata Group and Singapore Airlines is expected to take off as early as next year.

According to its chairman, the newly-formed airline, now named SIA Airlines, is awaiting issuance of clearance from the regulatory board. He is optimistic that the airline would be able to take its wings as scheduled, which is tentatively set in the middle of next year, sometime between May and June.

SIA Airlines is the product of a joint venture between India's largest conglomerate, Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, one of the world's best airlines.

The new airline is the latest addition to test the waters of one of the world's fastest-growing travel markets, following the formation of AirAsia India early this year.

Singapore Airlines is the third foreign-based airline to take interest in India's aviation industry after the country amended its FDI laws on local carriers late last year. Aside from Malaysia-based AirAsia, the UAE's national flag carrier, Etihad Airways, has already partnered with Jet Airways through stake acquisition of the latter.

The latest joint venture of Tata Group has sparked controversies following its similar partnership with Malaysia's AirAsia Group to form AirAsia India.

An official from Tata Group argued that though both partnerships are aviation-related, its joint venture with AirAsia will not directly compete with the new airline that it has formed with Singapore Airlines.

AirAsia India will keep its low-cost business model while SIA Airlines will take the opposite direction, as a full-service airline.

SIA Airline's application to have its headquarters located in the capital is already approved by the aviation regulatory office. However, it needs to satisfy other requirement before it can start operations.

The two partners poured a total of $100 million for the airline's initial operations. Like any other joint ventures in the country involving a foreign-based investor, the majority stakes, or 51%, is held by Tata Group and the rest is held by Singapore Airlines.

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