Air India Express, AI-SATS to be part of Air India sale

Air India Express, AI-SATS to be part of Air India sale

NEW DELHI: The government is said to have decided that the sale of Air India will involve its core aviation assets packaged with low-cost subsidiary Air India Express and AI-SATS, a groundhandling joint venture with Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS).

All non-core assets, like the Air India building in Mumbai and other offices, will not be part of the sale and become part of the special purpose vehicle (SPV), said a government official, who didn’t want to be identified.

Core aviation assets include aircraft, slots at airports and flying rights to various countries. Both Air India Express, a nofrills overseas carrier, and AI-SATS are profit-making subsidiaries of the airline. While Air India Express is a fully owned subsidiary, Air India and SATS own 50% each of the ground-handling joint venture.

The other Air India arms — profit-making Air India Air Transport Services and loss-making Air India Engineering Services — will be sold separately.