What makes Air India's ground-handling arm more desirable than airline?

While govt is still struggling to find suitors for Air India's core airline business, its fully owned subsidiary AIATSL has already received interest from two players

Air India’s fully owned ground-handling services subsidiary Air India Air Transport Services Ltd (AIATSL) seems to be drawing more interest from potential bidders than the core airline business. At least two companies – the Delhi-based Bird group and Turkish firm Celebi Holdings – are interested in buying AIATSL, the government has announced.

What makes AIATSL so attractive to the country’s private players which, mostly, already have similar operations? The answer might lie in the scale of the Air India subsidiary’s operations. The company provides ground-handling services at 67-70 airports across India which makes it by far the most dominant player.