Gulf carrier keen to acquire stake in Indian carriers
As the aviation industry continues to reel under global recession, a three-year old no-frill Gulf carrier today said it was interested in picking stake in airlines in India as well as in the region.
"We would like to buy stake in Indian carriers as well as others in the region, that is in the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa," Jazeera Airways Chief Commercial Officer Steven Greenway said.
The global meltdown is "a great opportunity for expansion", he said here, giving examples of two European low-cost carriers which expanded during the slowdown caused by the 9/11 terror attacks.
He said EasyJet and RyanAir, both low-cost carriers, had expanded rapidly taking advantage of the year-long slowdown that had followed the terror attacks on the Twin Towers.
Elaborating on the grim economic scenario facing the aviation industry worldwide, Greenway predicted that several airlines, globally as well as in India, would "go bust and we will have lot of opportunity to pick up these assets at a cheap price."