Investors want controlling stake
India’s proposed liberalisation of foreign direct investment in aviation may not be enough to attract big international airlines.
Speaking to the Business Standards, one leading aviator said that without majority ownership and issues of government intervention, would-be investors are concerned about their freedom to make decisions and act.
“The issue is that 49% is not enough… I think the guy who comes wants 51% and not 49% and he wants certain freedom from the government side,” said Lufthansa German Airlines’ south Asia director, Alex Hilgers.
Despite these concerns however, and rising airport fees, Indian aviation still remains an attractive opportunity.
“Our yields have gone up by five to 10% over last year and we are operating from India at 90% load factor in the last six months. The inbound load factors are also balanced this year. We need to operate at 80% load factor to make money.”
In response to these positive results, Lufthansa has just launched Boeing 747-8 flights from Delhi to Frankfurt and plans a second Boeing 747-8 flight from Bengaluru in the future.