NEW DELHI: On the last day for submitting financial bids for the debt-laden national carrier Air India, only two bidders - Tata Group and SpiceJet promoter Ajay Singh have complied with the second stage after which the process moves to the concluding stage of evaluation and announcement of the successor. 

The Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management tweeted and said, "Financial bids for Air India disinvestment received by Transaction Adviser. Process now moves to concluding stage." Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has made it clear that September 15 date for the process is fixed and will not change.

While the Tata group has submitted their bid through one of its holding companies, Singh has submitted his financial bid in his personal capacity, although he has reportedly roped in consortium partners along with him for the airlines. 

History will repeat itself if the Tata's emerge as the owners of the airlines, which was taken away from them 68 years ago in 1953 when Tata Group founded Tata Airlines Services was nationalised and renamed as Air India.

Tata Airlines Services was founded by JRD Tata of Tata Sons in 1932 to carry postal mail and diversified to its first passenger flight in 1938 with the first domestic service from Bombay to Trivandrum. 

Saddled with heavy losses and debt (which as of March 1, 2019, have risen to the tune of Rs 60,074 crore) in June 2017, the government approved the privatisation of Air India and in March 2018, issued an Expression of Interest (EOI) to sell 76% stake along with low-cost airline Air India Express, and a 50% stake of AISATS, a ground handling joint venture with Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS). 

According to the EOI, the new owner would have to take on a debt of Rs 33,392 crore and the government was hoping to complete the selling process by the end of 2018, however, no private firms showed any interest in buying the debt-laden airline. In January 2020, the government again released an EOI to sell 100% shares of both Air India and Air India Express as well as 50% shares of AISATS

To make the offer more attractive, the government also decreased nearly Rs 30,000 crore of debts and liabilities in a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). Since almost all of the loans are under the government guarantee, it is expected that it will bear this debt before the airline is transferred to the new owners.

As of August 2021, the mainline Air India (excluding fleet of subsidiaries – Air India Express and Alliance Air) fleet consisted of 128 owned and leased aircrafts. Air India Express had a total of 17 owned and 8 aircrafts on dry lease.