My Words: Air India is going to private hands (both good because that means mostly better service and bad considering that many private companies have increased prices for profit)
Bidding companies should be worth 5000 Crores INR (0.767 Billion USD), which means all Indian domestic carriers are ineligible (IndiGo is worth 3800 Crores INR (0.58 Billion USD))
From the Article: Air India has a total debt of Rs 52,000 crore, of which about Rs 33,000 crore is on account of working capital loans, which will be transferred to the SPV. IndiGo and an unnamed international carrier have officially expressed interest in bidding for Air India. Jet Airways and the Tata Group are also likely bidders but have not made public any such plans. The government intends to complete the sale of Air India by the end of 2018 and expressions of interest are likely to be sought in a few weeks.
So, what do you think? What are your opinions on this?
It was only a matter of time. I hope they go to a good private owner that has the means to get the airline back on its feet again. Air India is in desperate need of a re-think. Their planes are dirty, smelly and the service is bad. I have only flown with them once, never doing it again. However I do hope that they become better because an airline like Air India has the potential to be a great one.
The government of India are too corrupt to successfully run a business. They put Air India into the ground, it needs a lot of work to get it to a decent standard again.
Update: Air India might have to shut down if the divestment process fails. (the news is actually from IANS and accessing it needs an account. I got this directly from MSN)