Air India Limited Under the Ownership of Tata Group Proposes to Acquire AirAsia.
IndiaAir India Limited is a private entity and is under the ownership of Tata Group, and is headquartered at the Airlines house in New Delhi. On the other hand AirAsia India is an airline in India headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The airline is a joint venture with Tata Sons holding 83.67% stake in the airline and AirAsia Investment Limited holding 16.33% stake. AirAsia India is majority-owned by Tata Sons Private Ltd with a shareholding of 83.67 per cent and the remaining stake is with AirAsia Investment Ltd (AAIL), which is part of Malaysia’s AirAsia Group.
“The proposed combination relates to the acquisition of the entire equity share capital of AirAsia (India) by Air India, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons. At present, Tata Sons holds 83.67 percent of the equity share capital of AirAsia India,” the CCI notification stated.
According to the CCI notification, the proposed combination “would not change the competitive landscape or cause any appreciable adverse effect on competition in India, irrespective of how the relevant markets are defined”.
After taking control of Air India, Tata Sons started increasing cooperation among its airlines. As a first step, Air India and AirAsia India were to accept each other’s domestic passengers in case of flight disruptions. The two had signed an agreement to offer seats to passengers at the first availability to minimise inconvenience, and this deal was to stay in force till February 9, 2024.