IndiGo airlines shows interest in buying stake in state-owned Air India

Low-cost carrier IndiGo has written to the ministry of civil aviation expressing an interest in taking over Air India's international flights.

"IndiGo has written a letter with an unsolicited expression of interest (EOI) in the divestment procedure of Air India," Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey said today.

The Cabinet yesterday gave its in-principle approval for the divestment of the national carrier.

IndiGo said in a letter it would be interested in buying out the International operations of Air India and its low-cost wing, Air India Express.

If that was not possible, it would like to buy the entire Air India flight operations, including domestic, IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh said in the letter.

The letter, to Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, was sent after the Cabinet decision yesterday, officials said.

"Many other private players, both domestic and international, have approached us. But those were informal talks. IndiGo's was the only formal EOI," said Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha at a media briefing here.