The government is planning to invite preliminary bids for 100% stake sale in Air India next month and already some entities have expressed interest in the national carrier, sources said.

The airline is sitting on a debt pile of around ₹58,000 crore, besides huge accumulated losses running into thousands of crores.

Air India Assets Holding Ltd (AIAHL) has raised another Rs 7,985 crore through the issue of bonds, and the proceeds will be utilised to repay Air India’s debt. This the third fund-raising in little over a month by the entity.

A special purpose vehicle of Air India, AIAHL has mopped up a total of Rs 21,985 crore by way of bond issues since September 16.

Raising funds for the third time in little over a month, Air India Assets Holding Ltd (AIAHL) on Thursday raised Rs 7,985 crore through bond sale, which was oversubscribed. A special purpose vehicle of Air India, AIAHL has mopped up a total of Rs 21,985 crore by way of bond issues since September 16 and the proceeds would be utilised to repay debt of the national carrier.

Air India on Tuesday became the first airline in the world to use a Taxibot on a A320 aircraft with passengers onboard.

Taxibot is a robot-used aircraft tractor for taxiing an aircraft from parking bay to runway and vice versa.

The Centre will likely make the ailing Air India (AI) virtually debt-free by taking over an additional Rs 20,000 crore from its books before offering it afresh to bidders by the end of this month.

The government had taken over Rs 29,464-crore of AI debt earlier this financial year through a special purpose vehicle (SPV). AI’s assets, largely its fleet of aircraft, are estimated to be about Rs 20,000 crore, equivalent to the residual debt to be taken over by the prospective buyer, along with the entire government stake in the airline.

NEW DELHI : The Civil Aviation Ministry has approved Alliance Air plan to launch foreign operations by starting flights to Sri Lanka even as the airline's parent Air India remains on top of the government's disinvestment agenda.

The move has triggered speculation among Air India employees that government may continue in airline business by not selling Alliance Air.

CHANDIGARH : National carrier Air India will launch thrice-weekly flights on the Mumbai-Amritsar-Stansted (United Kingdom) route from October 31 to mark the 550th birth anniversary of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, a senior official said on Thursday.

Air India Assets Holding (AIAHL), a special purpose vehicle formed by the government of India to acquire the non-core assets of Air India (AIL) and its subsidiaries among other things, is set to hit the non-convertible debentures (NCD) market on Thursday to raise upto Rs. 7,000 crore through 10-year paper, bond dealers said.

The proceeds of the NCDs will be used by AIAHL to refinance the loans availed by AIL. The issue will be open for bids on Thursday.

Taking lessons from last year’s failed attempt to privatise Air India, the government has, this time round, decided to share the actual “sale and purchase agreement (SPA)” privately with prospective bidders at the EoI (expression of interest) stage itself to help them take long-term view of the various liabilities and accordingly plan their funding for the deal.

The fresh EoI, being prepared under the supervision of a home minister Amit Shah-led ministerial panel, would be out later this month.

NEW DELHI : Air India is offering 25% discount on its 'Ghumo India Family'. Air India's latest offer is with a view to promote heritage sites and prominent tourist destinations in India, where families travelling together will get discounted tickets, the carrier mentioned on its website. Here is all you need to know about Air India 'Ghumo India Family' offer.

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