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.

New Delhi: The wait for Air India flight connecting New Delhi to Toronto is over. The airline is all geared up for the inaugural flight to Toronto on 27th September, which also happens to be World Tourism Day. The flight connecting Delhi to Toronto will run thrice a week from tomorrow. The flights on the route will operate on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

New Delhi: India aims to sell two or three state-owned firms to local or foreign firms to raise up to ₹60, 000 ($8.5 billion) by March 2020, a senior Finance Ministry official said on Monday.

The government planned to sell Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd, logistics firm Container Corp of India Ltd and debt-laden Air India before the end of the 2019/20 financial year, the official, who asked not to be named, told reporters.

A group of ministers, led by Home Minister Amit Shah, on Thursday set the ball rolling on disinvestment of state-owned Air India. This is the second attempt of the Modi government to sell Air India after a previous attempt failed to generate any interest.

Officials aware of the deliberations in a meeting of AISAM on Thursday said the agenda was to seek a formal political approval for the re-initiation of the privatisation process.

A group of ministers led by Home Minister Amit Shah is set to meet on Thursday to discuss Air India privatization as the government looks to reduce its stake in the state-run carrier. The panel, which will have Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, will discuss key issues relating to selling 100% stake in the airline,

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