Aviation Min has no role in Jet Air's Heathrow deal: Srcs

The aviation ministry has denied malpractice charges in allowing Jet Airways sell its three slot pairs at London’s Heathrow Airport, exclusive sources told CNBC-TV18.

The government has no role in slot allocation at the airport and the airline had obtained necessary approval before selling its slots at the airport, ministry officials said.

Also, putting aside allegation that national carrier Air India’s operations were impacted due to this transaction, sources further said that AI utilizes only two slots of the four allotted to it at the airport and hence the allegation is baseless.

It may be recalled that in February this year after Jet Air sold its slots to Etihad for USD 70 million, the deal ran into controversy on two things: First: That since Jet was in talks with Abu Dhabi-based carrier for a possible stake sale, domestic carriers felt government favoured Jet Air on the Heathrow slot deal. Second: Other airlines operating from India felth they would be impacted due to the deal.

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