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The new owners of Air India following divestment may not have to worry about its gargantuan debt as the govt has decided to move much of this into a special purpose vehicle (SPV) before selling the carrier, senior aviation ministry officials said. The committee on Air India's divestment led by Finance minister Arun Jaitley took this decision at a meeting Aug 30, they said. "The committee decided to transfer all debt and assets of Air India to an SPV that will be managed by the govt The airline will be sold only with aircraft debt on its books. This will make the airline a much more lucrative proposition," said one of the officials. Air India has a total debt of INR520B and about INR330b is on account of working capital loans, which will be transferred to the SPV. <br/>

Colombian pilots said they’d continue their strike, dashing hopes of an early end to the disruption at Avianca that has grounded 250 flights a day by the airline. The country’s labour ministry had called for mandatory arbitration Thursday, which Avianca said meant the strike would be lifted within 48 hours. Instead, the union said its pilots would continue to protest, saying they had a legal right to a 60-day strike before the tribunal could be called. The case hinges on whether airlines qualify as an “essential public service”, which are prohibited from striking, with a court hearing scheduled for Wednesday. Avianca has a market share of about 60% in the Andean nation. The labour dispute will only be resolved through negotiations and Avianca should continue the talks it decided to end this week, the union said. <br/>