Air India back with Tatas after 89 years

Welcome back, Air India! That’s how Ratan Tata announced the acquisition of India’s one and only Maharaja and its national carrier. The tea-to-steel conglomerate, Tata, has bought back a struggling Air India, 89 years after founding it as Tata Air and half a century after its nationalisation.

Welcome back, Air India 🛬🏠 pic.twitter.com/euIREDIzkV

— Ratan N. Tata (@RNTata2000) October 8, 2021

The Tatas won the bid to acquire the debt-laden State-run Air India offering Rs 18,000 crore for acquiring 100 per cent shareholding, a Government official announced on Friday. The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) secretary said Tatas’ bid of Rs 18,000 crore comprises taking over of 15,300 crore of debt and paying the rest in cash.

A group of ministers comprising Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia cleared the winning bid for Air India on October 4.

Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy (JRD) Tata founded the airline in 1932. It was called Tata Airlines then. In 1946, the aviation division of Tata Sons was listed as Air India and in 1948, Air India International was launched with flights to Europe. The international service was among the first public-private partnerships in India, with the Government holding 49 per cent, the Tatas keeping 25 per cent and the public owning the rest. In 1953, Air India was nationalised.

Tata in 1932 didn’t mind investing Rs 2 lakh back to start Tata Aviation Service, the precursor of Tata Airlines and Air India. From the first airmail service flight from Karachi to Bombay in October 1932 with JRD steering a Puss Moth aircraft to wresting control of Air India 89 years later, the conglomerate has had a roller coaster ride in the Indian civil aviation history.