MUMBAI: The board of Tata Sons is veering around to back the proposal to acquire Air India, which has been put on the block by the Centre. However, the board, which met on Friday, wants Tata Sons and its aviation partners—Singapore Airlines and AirAsia Malaysia—to resolve structural issues before putting out an expression of interest for the state carrier. This is to avoid litigation at a later date, reports Reeba Zachariah.
The deadline to submit an EoI for Air India is March 17, but this will be extended, according to aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
Earlier this week, Tata SIA Airlines, operator of full-service carrier Vistara, had said, “Which company would not be interested in evaluating a sovereign airline of the country?” Though Vistara is leading the M&A efforts, AirAsia India, in which the Malaysian budget carrier holds 49%, will also be a part of the arrangement for the potential Air India acquisition.
