Initial bidding closes for Indian airlines

Initial bidding for a stake in India's two state-owned airlines, Air India and Indian Airlines, closes today.

Final bidding will take place after the government draws up a shortlist of potential firms.

A forty percent stake is being sold in the international carrier, Air India -- twenty-six percent to a strategic foreign partner, and the remainder to an Indian bidder.

Among those bidding is a partnership between the giant Indian Tata corporation and Singapore Airlines.

Correspondents say that despite debts estimated at more than eight-hundred-million dollars, the Air India sale is attracting interest because the airline has landing rights in key cities in Europe, the United States, and the Middle East. Analysts say an airline which bought a stake in Air India would strengthen its global position because routes over India provide an air corridor between Asia and Europe.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service