Air India Now Formally Handed Over To Tata Group:
The Union government has transferred its shares in Air India, along with control and management, to Tata Sons subsidiary, Talace, ending a disinvestment process that started five years ago.
- Tatas will get Air India’s fleet of 141 planes, along with ownership of iconic Brands like Air India, Indian Airlines & the Maharajah.
- As many as 13,500 permanent and contractual employees will also move to the Tata fold and have to be retained at least for one year.
- The Tata Group now owns three airlines along with Vistara in which it has a 51% stake and AirAsia India where it owns 84% stake.
- The three airlines together account for 24% of the market share in the aviation sector.
- The airline was founded in 1932, when JRD Tata piloted the inaugural flight between Karachi and Bombay.
- It was then known as Tata Airlines.
- The government acquired a 49% stake in the carrier in 1948, followed by its nationalisation in 1953.
- The airline was renamed as Air India International, and domestic flights were transferred to Indian Airlines.
- In 2007, the two airlines were merged. This along with a massive aircraft order a few years earlier plunged the new entity into debt as it failed to earn profit ever since.
