Tatas are committed to make Air India a world-class airline: Chandra

TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ Nearly seven decades after it lost control, Tatas on Thursday regained ownership of Air India and promised to turn the loss-making carrier into a world-class airline. N Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons, which in October last year beat a consortium led by rival SpiceJet promoter to win the bid for the national carrier, first called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi before heading to the Air India office where the takeover formalities were completed.

A new board of directors met shortly thereafter, formalising the management takeover. Tata Group founder JRD Tata had originally launched the airline in 1932 as the nation’s first carrier, flying mail between Karachi in then-undivided, British-ruled India and Bombay.

It was nationalised in 1953. The finance ministry in a statement said the Air India strategic divestment transaction has been completed on Thursday with the government receiving a consideration of Rs 2,700 crore from Talace Pvt Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons.

The government has retained debt of Rs 15,300 crore in Air India and Air India Express Ltd (AIXL) while 100 per cent shares of Air India, AIXL and the national carrier’s 50 per cent shareholding in AISATS have been transferred to Talace.