Punjabi NRI acquires Air Slovakia

Indian-born businessman Harjinder Singh Sidhu has bought Air Slovakia, a private central European airline for an undisclosed amount.

UK-based Sidhu acquired the small Bratislava-based airline sometime last week, according to sources.

Sidhu wants to transform airline into a "Punjabi experience" - using crew, food and in-flight entertainment from Punjab.

"The bulk of our passengers are from Punjab and Punjabis from Europe. So we want to brand Air Slovakia as an airline with Punjabi ambience and flavour. Our stewards, airhostesses will be from Punjab as also the in-flight food," Riqbal Sidhu, Harjinder's son, who's president of the airline, says the aim is to create a Punjabi Airline for expat Punjabi communities around the world. The regional headquarters of Air Slovakia will be in Jalandhar, Punjab.

Sidhu plans to rechristen the Airline Golden City Airlines and add six more aircraft to the fleet in 2007. Air Slovakia presently has 2 Boeing 757s and 1 Boeing 737 in its fleet.