As Air India returns to Tata Group fold, Chairman promises to build 'world-class airline'

After Tata Sons' winning bid for national carrier Air India was approved by the Centre, the Group chairman N Chandrasekaran termed it as a "historic moment" and said that the company will strive to build a world-class airline that makes every Indian proud.

"At the Tata group, we are delighted to be declared as the winner of the bid for Air India. This is a historic moment, and it will be a rare privilege for our Group to own and operate the country's flag bearer airline. It will be our endeavour to build a world-class airline that makes every Indian proud," Chandrasekaran said in a press statement.

On the occasion, he also took a moment to pay tribute to the 'pioneer of Indian aviation', JRD Tata and said that his team cherishes his memories.

Tata Sons won the bid for acquiring Air India on Friday, 8 October 2021, ending decades of attempts to privatize a debt-laden airline, and potentially ending years of taxpayer bailouts that kept it running. Tata Sons, which had originally launched the airline in 1932, placed a winning bid of ₹ 18,000 crores to re-acquire Air India, said Tuhin Kanta Pandey, the top bureaucrat at the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management. 

The company will take on Rs 15,300 crore of Air India's debt, which currently stands at Rs 61,562 crore. The remaining Rs 46,262 crore of debt will be retained by a company that will be spun off, called AIHL which will continue to be owned by the Government. The transaction is expected to be completed by December 2021. 

'Welcome back Air India': Rata Tata

Industrialist Ratan Tata also reacted to the news that Tata Group finally won the bid to reacquire Air India. Taking to Twitter, he said Tatas will have the opportunity to regain the image and reputation that the airlines enjoyed in earlier years.

Remembering JRD Tata, under whose leadership Air India had gained the reputation as the most 'prestigious' airline in the world, Ratan Tata said the late Indian aviator would have been overjoyed on this day.