Tag: air india

The government on Thursday officially handed over Air India to the Tata Group."We are delighted to have Air India back at the Tata group," Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran said. He said the company is looking forward to creating a “world-class airline"."I warmly welcome all the employees of Air India to our Group, and look forward to working together," Chandrasekaran said. "The strategic disinvestment transaction of Air India successfully concluded today with transfer of 100 percent shares of Air India to M/s Talace Pvt Ltd along with management control. A new Board, led by the Strategic Partner, takes charge of Air India," Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey stated. The consideration amount of ₹2,700 crores has been received by the government. The shares have been transferred to Talace. Consideration amount has been received and so the new owner is Talace. The debt of ₹15,300 crores has been accepted by the new owners. Read more

Air India will be transferred to Tata Group, the new owner, by the third week of January 2022, Union aviation minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia said at the Times Now Summit 2021 yesterday(11th Nov.2021). India will also see a startup, Akasa, take to the skies along with a reborn Jet Airways next year. January 23 is the 'long stop date' by which Tatas have to take over the airlines. Soaring aviation turbine fuel prices have led to a 400% increase in Indian airlines’ operating cost in recent months, Scindia said, adding that had the government not recently raised domestic fare bands by 12.5%, there “won’t have been any airline left for us to board”. “We are seeing a tremendous amount of green shoots. The last weekend saw a high of 3.8 lakh passengers daily, with the pre-Covid high being 4.2 lakh. So we are only 10% below the pre-Covid high. Almost 90% of (domestic) traffic has recovered. But it is important to be cautious,” he said.

Amid the buzz of the Centre approving Air India's sale to Tata Sons, government officials said that the highest decision-making body constituted for the national carrier's divestment is yet to meet to grant its nod for the transaction. The Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism (AISAM) headed by Home Minister Amit Shah is yet to meet to approve the sale of Air India, an official said. The panel is expected to meet soon to grant a final nod to the sale of the national carrier. The panel has Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, and Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia as members. The government expects the final bid to at least match the reserve price. But, it may still go ahead with the disinvestment process even if the bid quoted is lower than the reserve price. The government is looking to complete the sale of Air India as early as this month.

The government will select the winner in Air India’s disinvestment in about three weeks and two high-level committees will finalise the reserve price for the national carrier within this period. The reserve price of the carrier will be soon decided by the inter-ministerial group (IMG) headed by the secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), based on the inputs from government-appointed valuers. The Core Group of Secretaries on Divestment (CGD), chaired by the cabinet secretary, will then consider the IMG’s recommendation. The Tata group and SpiceJet promoter Ajay Singh are in the race to acquire the loss-making airline. This process is being targeted to be completed in three weeks, said a top government official. The security clearance of the bidders who have shown an interest by placing financial bids is underway, he added. Read more

Tata Sons are likely to submit an expression of interest (EoI) for state-owned carrier Air India, the deadline for which ends on December 14. Singapore Airlines (SIA), with which Tata Sons operates full-service airline Vistara, may not be part of the bid in the initial stages, according to sources. “The opportunity to acquire Air India is too good to let go if the company wants to have scale and size in the business of aviation. In all sectors Tata Sons operates, the focus has been to either be a market leader or No.2. Air India provides that opportunity,” a person aware of the development said. However, Tata Sons management will not like to have a third airline venture and wants to merge Air India and Vistara in the future. Besides Vistara, Tata Sons owns a 51 percent stake in low-cost airline AirAsia India.

The government has changed a bidding parameter for airline Air India, allowing potential buyers to quote enterprise value instead of equity value. Simultaneously, the deadline for submitting bids has been extended to December 14 from October 30. Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said this would entice bidders who till now had constructed the debt amount as a minimum threshold bid amount. The Tata group, which operates two airlines Vistara and AirAsia India, is a favourite for acquiring the national carrier. “We expect to complete the bidding process by end of December,” Puri said. The enterprise value of a company includes the equity value, debt as well as cash with the company. Equity value measures the value of a company’s shares. However, the government has mandated that a willing bidder will have to pay 15 percent of his quote as upfront cash payment, disinvestment secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said.

The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal to allow non-resident Indians (NRIs) to acquire 100% stake in national carrier Air India. NRIs who are Indian nationals will get permission to invest in Air India. This will pave the way for fresh investments. Passengers will continue to get better and better services and it will also improve the business environment. The administration of Narendra Modi has made India a very attractive destination for foreign investment. The government said the successful bidder will need to absorb just ₹23,286.5 crores of debt while the rest, about ₹56,334 crores, will be transferred to a special purpose vehicle - Air India Assets Holding Ltd. Air India operates 98 destinations, including 42 spots overseas. It has 121 aircraft of which it owns 32 while the rest are leased. It has 9,426 permanent workers, 4,201 contract employees and over 2,867 employees who are on deputation from other companies as on 1 November.

Coronavirus outbreak: National airline carrier Air India arranges a Jumbo Boeing-747 to rescue about 250 passengers from Wuhan, China, the site of the outbreak of Coronavirus. This comes a day after India confirmed its first case of Coronavirus in Kerala. The 423 seater flight will depart from Delhi airport at 12.30 pm as per a senior airline official. "The national carrier once again comes to the rescue" read the tweet from Air India’s national spokesperson Ashwani Lohani.