Pawan Hans disinvestment: Unable to fly new routes, expand business, says company

The helicopter operator Pawan Hans, which has plans of expanding its services, is hit by the disinvestment procedure.

The company’s management met aviation minister Suresh Prabhu, on Thursday, to express concerns that it is not able to add new routes as the government has started the process of disinvestment in the company.

Senior officials from the ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) said that the government has restricted acquisition of new aircraft by Pawan Hans. “This is not allowing the helicopter company to expand and fly to more places, which is affecting the business,” said a ministry official.

Pawan Hans is a joint venture under the MoCA and state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd that holds 49% stake.

It was announced last year that the company would be privatised after which, the government floated the ‘Expression of Interest’(EOI) – the announcement of the government’s plan to sell its stake in the company.

However, in April, the government withdrew the preliminary information memorandum for inviting EOI as only two bidders bid for the company.

The government floated a fresh information memorandum for strategic sale of Pawan Hans on April 13 for which, the last date of submission is June 11, 2018.