Will Ratan Tata Buy Air India? Tata Group Only Contender For Buying Air India As Of Now!

As per the reports, the Indian multinational conglomerate Tata group has emerged as the sole contender in the fray for acquiring India’s state-owned airliner Air India.

Tata Group History With Air India

The sprawling steel-to-salt conglomerate Tata group, already has a footprint in the airlines business, has further shown its interest in acquiring Air India, when only one month is left for submitting the final bid.

At one point of time in history, Air India was under the Tata umbrella. 

Basically, Air India was founded by J. R. D. Tata as Tata Airlines in 1932 and Tata himself flew its first single-engine de Havilland Puss Moth, which carried airmail from Karachi to Bombay’s Juhu aerodrome and further continuing to Madras (currently Chennai).

What About The Other Bidders?

In due time, the other bidders will also emerge as around the world, airlines are going through severe stress due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the resultant disruptions on travel and tourism domain.

On one hand, Tata group is going for the bid on the other hand, its joint venture airlines venture, Singapore Airlines, has declined to join the Air India bid due to Covid-19 woes.

Currently, they are working on due diligence for the airlines as the last date for bidding is August 31 and it seems that the government is not in favour of extending the deadline.

Why Would This Happen?

It’s been some time as Air India is going through a critical financial condition before the Covid-19 onslaught. 

On top of that the crippling effect of the pandemic, especially in the aviation and hospitality sector, has further plummeted its finances to a precarious position.

Tata Group Involvement In Aviation Industry

 In India, Tata group has been an important part of the growing aviation sector from Tata Airlines and Air India to Vistara and AirAsia India.

Tata has been present in the aviation sector from the initiation be it be Tata Air Lines and the long-since nationalised Air India to strategic joint ventures with AirAsia Berhad and Singapore Airlines (SIA) for AirAsia India and Vistara, they are always part of this circle.

So far, the two joint venture airlines work independently with their respective business models, where AirAsia India is low-cost while Vistara supports full-service.

The  August 31 bidding deadline is unlikely to be extended again according to the quoting highly placed sources within the government.

As already, the government has done so thrice as a fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.