Dubai-based low-cost carrier flydubai is looking for an efficient Indian airline to invest."We have dialogue with Indian airlines all the time. If we find a good opportunity, we will consider it. We will then go and seek approval from the shareholders,” said chief executive officer Ghaith Al Ghaith. The airline is seeking to expand its reach. “More than 2.4 billion people live within a five-and-a-half hour radius of Dubai. The opportunity for us to provide connectivity is huge,” Al Ghaith added. In India, flydubai added four new flights to Delhi and three weekly flights each to Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram this month. The no-frills carrier connects six airports, including Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Kochi and Lucknow. It is currently utilising 3,000 seats per week to India out of the total of 5,000 seats allotted to the airline till summer scheduled of 2015.
The Indian government allowed foreign airlines to buy up to 49 per cent stakes in Indian carriers in September 2012. Since then, the Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways has bought a 24 per cent stake in Naresh-Goyal’s Jet Airways. Two new ventures, AirAsia india and Tata-SIA Airlines, have been registered and will start flights soon. Budget airlines SpiceJet and GoAir are currently searching for strategic investors. Qatar has also shown interest to pick up stake in the country’s largest budget carrier IndiGo.
