Government will start process of selling ground-handling arm Alliance Air of Air India in 2022-23
New Delhi:
Government will start work on selling ground-handling arm Alliance Air of erstwhile national carrier Air India and the expression of interest (EoI) is expected in the next fiscal, an official said.
“We already have the cabinet approval for selling the subsidiaries of Air India. So we will come out with an EoI inviting bids for one of the ground-handling arms in the next fiscal,” an official was quoted as saying by agencies.
Currently, four Air India subsidiaries – Air India Air Transport Services Ltd (AIATSL), Airline Allied Services Ltd (AASL) or Alliance Air, Air India Engineering Services Ltd (AIESL) and Hotel Corporation of India Ltd (HCI) are with Air India Assets Holding Ltd (AIAHL), which is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) set up in 2019 for holding non-core assets and debt of Air India.
The government had last month transferred the ownership of Air India to Tata Group, after the later emerged as the winning bidder for buying the loss-making carrier.
The official further said that it is also to be decided whether the Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism (AISAM) for Air India privatisation or the Alternative Mechanism for CPSE disinvestment would be the decision-making ministerial panel for privatising these subsidiaries.
The AISAM is headed by the home minister and comprises the finance minister, commerce and industry Minister and civil aviation minister.
The Alternative Mechanism of central public sector enterprises disinvestment comprises of road transport minister, finance minister and commerce minister.
Separately, AIAHL also has over Rs 14,700 crore worth non-core assets like land and building of Air India which also has to be monetised. These assets were transferred to AIAHL before the airline’s privatisation.