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The Bird Group might bring in an external investor for the Air India Air Transport Services Ltd (AIATSL) bid if the Air India arm is valued higher than expected.
A senior spokesperson at Bird Group confirmed to BusinessLine that the company had, in July, written to the Ministry of Civil Aviation expressing interest in buying AIATSL. The spokesperson, who did not wish to be named, also said the company had requested the Centre to consider the separate disinvestment of Air India subsidiaries to unlock the “maximum value”. While declining to name a figure for AIATSL, the spokesperson said globally such businesses are valued at about 5-7 times EBITDA.
The Bird Group was founded by Vijay and Radha Bhatia in 1971 as a travel agency. Today, its two main business verticals are travel technology and aviation services, and hospitality. The privately-held family-run business is led by Ankur Bhatia, Executive Director.
Its aviation services include aircraft navigation, ground handling, customer management, logistics, ticketing, cargo management and baggage handling.
It runs ground handling operations in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kochi, Gaya and Goa airports. The group is looking to scale up the business “as and when opportunities arise,” the spokesperson said.
AIATSL is the market leader in India in the ground handling business, present in 70 airports. Most airlines, however, outsource their ground handling operations. Besides Air India. there are six private third-party operators.
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