Sia Arm, Taj Hotels To Form Joint Venture

Singapore Airlines Terminal Service (SATS), a Singapore Airlines subsidiary, is forming a joint venture with the Taj Group of Hotels. SATS and the Taj group will each take 30 per cent stake in the new firm, Taj Madras Flight Kitchen Pvt Ltd. SATS will invest $5 million in the venture.

Apart from SATS, Oriental Hotels and Malaysian Airlines will also have a stake of 20 per cent each. We are also planning flight kitchen services in Male and Hong Kong, said S Zainul Alijunied, general manager, Indian operations, SIA group.

Singapore Airlines is planning to replace their present aircrafts operating on the Indian routes with Boeing 777s. Announcing this at a press conference, Alijunied said the first B777 will become operational on the Singapore-Delhi route by October. The airlines will also be increasing the frequency of flights from Delhi and Chennai. On the Chennai sector, it will be made daily and on the Delhi route, it will be increased from 3 to 5 flights weekly.

 

The SIA Group posted net profit of $714 million for 1996-1997 on an income of $4.5 billion. The operating profit fell from $742.4 million in 1995-96 to $619.9 in 1996-97, a decrease of 14.3 per cent. The revenue would have been more had the rate of the Singapore dollar against the major currencies remained unchanged from the preceding year, he said.

Alijunied said passenger traffic in India during the period Jan 96 to Dec 97 increased by 8.3 per cent. There is scope for growth in India, but because of government restrictions there are hurdles, he said.