Rajiv Bansal said: “Working hard to hand over the Air India operations by the end of December.
New Delhi: The government on Wednesday said it is working to hand over Air India operations to Tata Sons by the end of the year. “We are making every effort to hand over the Air India operations by the end of December,” Civil Aviation Minister Rajiv Bansal told ANI news agency.
Tata Group has been selected as the winning bidder for India’s top airline, ending decades of efforts to privatize a loss-making and heavily indebted airline.
Tata Sons, which originally launched Air India under the same name brand (Tata Air Services) in 1932, bid Rs 18,000 crore as an enterprise value.
Under the agreement, Tatas will retain Rs 15,300 crore debt owed by Air India and pay Rs 2,700 in cash to the government.
The cash-strapped carrier has a total debt of Rs 61,560 crore as of August 31, and the outstanding debt will be taken over by the government.
The deal does not cover non-core Air India assets such as land and buildings, and Tata Sons will have to retain all of the airline’s employees for at least a year.
Currently, Air India has a fleet of 117 wide and narrow body aircraft and Air India Express Ltd. There are 24 narrow-body aircraft.
Despite its precarious financial situation, Air India controls more than 4,400 domestic parking and landing spaces and 1,800 international parking and landing spaces at domestic airports and 900 overseas.
The Tata Group also operates Vistara in partnership with Singapore Airlines and AirAsia India in partnership with Malaysia’s AirAsia.
