A delegation of Abu Dhabi-based carrier Etihad Airways, which is expected to buy a stake in Jet Airways, will meet commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma this week. “They are meeting me on January 31,” Sharma told reporters here on the sidelines of CII’s annual Global Partnership
Summit.
The proposed meeting comes in the backdrop of Jet Airways stating earlier this month that it was in talks with Eithad regarding a potential investment by it in the Naresh Goyal-owned carrier.
The issue is also understood to have come up during the bilateral meeting Sharma had with UAE foreign trade minister Sheikha Lubna Bint Khalid Al Qasimi in Agra.
Jet is likely to sell 24% of its equity to the major Gulf carrier, unconfirmed reports said, indicating that crucial issues relating to the stake sale have been sorted out between the two airlines.
Recently, Jet informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that it was in discussion with Etihad regarding a potential investment by the latter in the former.
Both airlines are learnt to have appointed global consultants as they want the investments to be on a sound footing, given the high operating costs in India.