Gurgaon's travel firm Bird Group has shown interest in acquiring Air India's ground handling unit, a company spokesperson told Business Standard.
"We have told the government that if it decides to sell the subsidiary separately to unlock maximum value we will bid for the ground handling unit," said a company official.
The Bird Group already does ground handling activities at seven airports in the country.
Earlier Civil Aviation secretary Rajiv Nayan Choubey told reporters that the group has sent an Expression of Interest (EoI) for the same. Bird Group provides various aviation services such as aircraft navigation, ground handling, customer management and logistics.
Air Works, a private Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) company, has also shown interest in taking over the ground handling business of the state-owned carrier. Low-cost carrier IndiGo had earlier expressed their interest in buying the airline's international business.
A senior Air India official told Business Standard that it makes sense to sell the subsidiary separately as any airline will be willing to pay a premium for it since Air India’s ground handling firm Air India Air Transport Services Limited (AIATSL) carries out services across India. He added that AIATSL would command a value of around Rs 2,000 crore, which can then be used to pare off a part of the airline's debt.
Air India’s debt at the end of 2016-17 stood at Rs 48,876 crore, of which Rs 31,517 crore (65 per cent) was related to working capital.
Air India Engineering Service Limited (AIESL) has 31 hangars across the country. The company pegs its value at Rs 3,000 crore. Significant among them is the Nagpur facility which has an engine workshop valued at around Rs 1,330 crore and Shamshabad facility which is valued at Rs 200 crore.
A Group of Ministers (GoM) led by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will decide on the modalities of Air India's disinvestment process.