New Delhi: Vistara chairman Bhaskar Bhat said they were evaluating Air India as the Centre has started the national carrier's disinvestment process.
"We are evaluating Air India. Which company would not be interested in evaluating a sovereign airline of the country?" Bhat asked. "Whether we bid or not comes later."
Vistara is the brand name of TATA SIA Airlines Limited, a joint venture between Tata Sons Limited and Singapore Airlines Limited (SIA) with Tata Sons holding the majority stake of 51% and SIA holding the remaining 49%. Vistara commenced its commercial operations on January 9, 2015.
The government was in the process of finalising invitation of bids, the minister said while also quelling concerns raised by over a dozen Air India unions that selling the airline, once viewed as a 'jewel', will lay heavy upon the hearts of the general public and will be a severe blow to their national pride.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said in November last year that the government is looking to wrap up the sale of state-run companies Air India by March 2020.
Earlier, the plan to sell Air India did not go through for lack of investors and the lukewarm response to its sale. The ailing national carrier, which has a debt of around Rs 58,000 crore, is currently surviving on a Rs 30,000 crore bail-out package cleared by the UPA-II government.
Last week, industrial conglomerate Adani Group had emerged as one of the bidders for the debt-laden national carrier. According to highly-placed sources, the group had held internal rounds of deliberations on whether or not to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI).
Adani Group has also entered into airport operations and maintenance business and won bids for privatisation of six airports, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangaluru in 2019.
On being asked if Vistara or Tata Sons were evaluating Air India, Bhat replied: "We (Vistara) are a joint venture."
The airline, founded by JRD Tata as Tata Airlines in 1932, became a public limited company after World War 2 and was renamed as Air India. There had been several attempts in the early 2000s to privatise Air India. From 2006 onwards, it suffered losses after its merger with Indian Airlines.
