Jet Airways, Etihad Airways deal now under new cloud
There is unease in sections of the government on whether the Naresh Goyal's Jet Airways, Etihad Airways deal should be the first to be cleared after FDI rules for aviation sector were changed in India.
Given that Jet Airways has been under the gaze of the security establishment in the past for ownership and funding issues, there are fears that the deal may attract trouble.
Already, the fact that the partner is a Gulf airliner like Etihad is a point of concern because it may be perceived as another way to divert Indian passenger traffic to the Gulf after Emirates cornered a large share of Indian passengers headed west by offering connections from its hub in Dubai.
These murmurs are getting louder even as Jet Airways chief Naresh Goyal is in the middle of his own brand of fierce lobbying, reminiscent of times when he single-handedly managed to thwart Tata’s first venture into aviation in the 1990s, mainly on the strength of his friendship with Pramod Mahajan.
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