Mumbai: Divestment-bound national carrier Air India is looking at raising Rs500 crore by selling land and real estate in 2018-19, and is likely to sell some of its prime properties across the country, two senior officials of the airlines said.

The airline is looking to sell several of its land blocks and real estate including a 4-acre piece of land at Delhi’s Baba Kharak Singh Marg, residential colony at Vasant Vihar, a piece of land in Chennai, and a half-acre plot in Mumbai’s Pali Hill that houses about 14 apartments, one of the officials said.

The government is likely to include call and put options in the share purchase agreement of Air India to profitably sell its residual stake in the airline after strategic disinvestment.

A put option gives the existing shareholders the right to sell securities at a specified price, thereby providing an exit route from the company. A call option allows the buyer to acquire shares at a predetermined price, which is usually above the current price, within a limited time period, allowing it to increase its shareholding in the company.

National carrier Air India plans to lease "new iPads with pre-loaded content" for service recovery onboard its aircraft.

According to the tender document issued on February 23, 2018, the airline intends to deploy 150 new iPads on 18 aircraft.

Air India stake sale: After Civil Aviation Minister Gajapathi Raju said earlier this month that any ‘unsolicited expression of interest’ in Air India is no longer relevant, even as many airlines are reportedly queuing up to pick up a stake in the state-run carrier, the minister said on Wednesday that no final decision has been made as yet. Addressing a press conference yesterday, Civil Aviation Minister Gajapathi Raju said that while there is no final decision as yet, there are lots of suggestions and the government is still mulling on the issue.

A mid-air disaster was averted in the Mumbai airspace when a Vistara aircraft came perilously close to an Air India plane, prompting the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) to launch a probe.

On February 7, the Vistara's UK 997 Pune-bound aircraft from Delhi, carrying 152 passengers, was just 100 feet away from the Air India's AI 631 flight for Bhopal which had 109 passengers on board.

Contrary to popular belief that Air India made a turnaround under the current National Democratic Alliance government, figures show that its loss widened instead. According to figures provided in Parliament by minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha, the state-owned carrier registered a loss of Rs 57.65 billion in FY17, Rs 19.29 billion higher than Rs 38.36 billion loss in FY16.

The figures reflect significant deviation from the minister’s own parliamentary disclosure on July 27, 2017.

Saudi Arabia has allowed Air India to use its airspace for flights between Delhi and Tel Aviv, Israeli daily Haaretz reported. However, a spokesperson for Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation was quoted in another media report denying that any such permission was granted to Air India.

It could not be confirmed from either the ministry of civil aviation here or Air India, whether the national carrier has been given right to use Saudi airspace for flight to Tel Aviv.

With many airlines reportedly queuing up to pick up a stake in Air India, the civil aviation minister Gajapathi Raju said that any unsolicited expression of interest in the state-run carrier is not relevant at this stage. Gajapathi Raju made the statement in the Rajya Sabha while in response to a question. “The draft EOI document inviting proposals for disinvestment of airline is yet to be issued. Formal proposals from prospective bidders would be received thereafter only. Any unsolicited EOI at this stage is not relevant,” Raju said.

Air India will get a one-time grant of 750,000 euros from Israel for launching direct flights between New Delhi and Tel Aviv, which is likely to be launched next month, a senior Israeli official said today. “The Ministry of Tourism will approve a grant to Air India in response to their request and according to the conditions of the directive, which includes a grant of 250,000 Euro per weekly flight, up to a total of three weekly flights,” Lydia Weitzman, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Tourism, told PTI here.

The government is expecting to have the winning bidder for national carrier Air India by the end of June and the "legal closing" of the transaction by year-end, Union Minister Jayant Sinha said on Friday.

To revive the fortune of the debt-laden carrier, the government has decided on a strategic disinvestment and a group of ministers is working on the modalities.

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