Anti-trust report on Jet's Sahara acquisition by end of May

BY A CORRESPONDENT
May 8, 2006

India's anti-trust body Monopolies and restrictive Trade Practices Commission, which is inquiring into Jet Airways' acquisition of Air Sahara is likely to submit its report by the end of this month.

In the wake of Jet making a proposal to acquire rival airline Air Sahara, Director General of Investigations and Registration (DGIR) of MRTPC had initiated a probe into the acquisition plan. Since the combined entity would be commanding about half the market share, there were fears that this could lead to an abuse of monopoly.

However, even as the probe is on, the Aircraft Acquisition Committee of the government cleared the acquisition of Air Sahara by Jet Airways. The committee also transferred all airport rights which belonged to Air Sahara to Jet Airways.

During the course of its probe, the DGIR had sent notices to both airlines. Since they have asked for more time to reply to the notices, the report will be delayed and now be out by the end of this month.

Jet's acquisition of Air Sahara is the first and largest instance of airline consolidation in India. In January this year, Jet Airways had proposed to acquire smaller rival airline Air Sahara for over $500 million (rs 2300 crore).