CCI approves acquisition of Air India stake by Tata sons

On December 20, 2021, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved the acquisition of Air India, Air India SATS Airport and Air India Express by Talace, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons.

Key Points

• Currently, Air India is wholly owned by the government.
• Air India, along with AIXL, is primarily engaged in business of providing domestic scheduled air passenger transport service, air cargo transport services and international scheduled air passenger transport service.
• Air India SATS Airport Services is engaged in providing ground handling services at airports in Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mangaluru and Thiruvananthapuram. It also provides cargo handling services at Bengaluru airport.

Acquisition of Air India

Tata Group came into a share purchase agreement with Central government in October 2021, to purchase the stake of centre in national carrier Air India, Air India Express, and AISATS. Following this, a Letter of Intent (LoI) was issued to Tata Group. After SPA, Tata Group had to fulfil the conditions precedent in the agreement before taking over Air India.