For the price of US$70 million, Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways purchased Jet Airway's slots at Heathrow Airport in London. There is also discussion as to the Middle East based airline to purchase a stake in the Indian air carrier.
The purchase of slots is a positive sign that the deal is pushing through after weeks of rumors that the deal would be stalled, resulting in a plunge for the Indian carrier's share values. The shares though jumped nearly 20% when TV Channel ET broke the news that Etihad was near in finalizing a 24% purchase in the airline. According to sources, Etihad already paid an advance of US$70 million and US$400 million would follow suit as scheduled under the terms of the deal.
The partnership would be the first of its kind in the sub-continent after Indian regulators relaxed rules last September to allow foreign ownership of up to 49% of local airlines, currently beset by cutthroat competition and high costs of operations.
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