Last week, the government of India announced the sell of its 76 percent stake in Air India, and from day one InterGlobe Aviation Limited, the parent company of IndiGo, was interested in purchasing it.
However, as of today, IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh released a statement wherein he said the company was only interested in its International Routes, and not the domestic ones.
“From day one, IndiGo has expressed its interest primarily in the acquisition of Air India’s international operations and Air India Express, however, that option is not available under the government’s current divestiture plans for Air India. Also, as we have communicated before, we do not believe that we have the capability to take on the task of acquiring and successfully turning around all of Air India’s airline operations,” he said.
Air India was previously the largest airline in India and the South Asian region, but eventually lost suit to competitors and others factors. India’s airline industry is continuing to grow at the rate of 20 percent each year due to new airlines opening, especially low-cost ones.
This means Air India only have two contenders now. Either Emirates or SIA. But whoever bought Air India, I’m sure either Emirates or SIA will make Air India more profitable in the future. As Air India has lots of potential in the region and needs a rebrand 😊
If SIA is the one chosen to take the stakes. I guess it would be likely that they either :
Merge Air India with Vistara, or
End JV with Tata and leave Vistara to Tata solely.
But I do hope that they could do the first option. Maybe let’s see how will it ends. I’m happy to see that Air India is going to be owned in better hands 😊
