Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Jayant Sinha revealed that the government will split government owned Air India into four separate companies before its sale. Air India, the national carrier has a debt of around Rs 50000 croes and is on a disinvestment platform.
Regarding the split up, the core airline business comprising Air India and low-cost wing- Air India Express will be formed as one company. Disinvestment of this entity will be completed by the end of 2018. The regional arm of Air India -the Alliance Air, ground handling operations and engineering operations will form the remaining three segments.
Backgrounder
Air India is a in a severe crisis with a debt of around Rs 50000 crores. Efforts to rescue the firm on a usual way has failed and the government has decided its sell out through disinvestment. Here, the government tis aiming to find a strategic investor so that the big debt problem of the company can be overcome.
The Tata-Singapore Airlines consortium has emerged as the lead bidder for Air India. For facilitating foreign investment participation, the government has allowed 49% investment by foreign companies in Air India.
