The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Tuesday gave its approval to Tata Group-owned Air India’s proposal to fully acquire the equity share capital of low-cost carrier AirAsia India.
AirAsia India is majority-owned by Tata Sons with a shareholding of 83.67 percent and AirAsia Investment Ltd, part of Malaysia’s AirAsia Group, controls the rest of the stake in the budget carrier.
In April this year, Air India had sent a proposal to the CCI to fully ac-quire AirAsia India to merge into a single airline.
Tata Sons’ wholly-owned subsidiary, Talace Private Limited acquired Air India and Air India Express last year.
Group’s holding firm Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran talked about the strategies and plans for their one of their latest acquisitions – Air India.
The return of the Maharaja to the Tatas happened in January this year and Chandrasekaran described this not just as “an emotional investment” but as a hugely important business. The Tata Sons chairman revealed that he is directly spending a lot of time on Air India.
“We are determined to do all we can to make it work. But there are lots of issues that need heavy lifting. There is no magic wand… A lot of work needs to be done on IT systems, processes, maintenance, fleet, ground handling, HR, training, net-work planning. We are working on all dimensions,” the group chairman highlight-ed.
More changes that the carrier requires are in execution, design, customer ser-vice and how to differentiate all their lounges. All this requires commitment and passion, and it won’t happen overnight, but we are on the job. People at Air India are also willing to do everything to make it work. There is a lot of pride in the na-tional carrier, and they are very happy that it has come to Tatas, Chandra said.
