CCI approves Air India’s acquisition of AirAsia India

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Tuesday approved Tata Group-owned Air India's proposal to buy the entire equity share capital of low cost carrier AirAsia India, in which Tata has a majority stake, to merge into a single airline.

The autos-to-steel conglomerate had 83.67% stake in AirAsia India and the remaining stake is with AirAsia Investment Ltd (AAIL), which is part of Malaysia's AirAsia Group

Air India had earlier sought an approval from the CCI for the proposed deal.

Last year, Tata Sons' wholly-owned subsidiary, Talace Private Limited acquired Air India and Air India Express.

This comes as Tata Sons is trying to turn around Air India, which survived on taxpayer bailouts for years. The development could help the salt-to-steel conglomerate salvage its aviation empire, which constitutes three unprofitable carriers now, including Singapore Airlines Ltd’s local joint venture Vistara.

The deal will not cause a change in the competitive landscape nor will it have any adverse effect on competition, Tatas said in their offer earlier. But the airlines will face some overlaps in their domestic passenger and cargo services along with charter flights.