Alex Cruz, former chairman and CEO of British Airways, might take over as Air India CEO soon. Cruz headed the British Airways for five years till 2020, after leading Spanish low cost airline Vueling. Cruz had stepped down as British Airways’ chief executive when the pandemic-hit airline had cut 13,000 jobs in October 2020. Later, he stepped down as chairman too. On his LinkedIn profile, Cruz identifies as an investor, board member and adviser on some companies.
Cruz, an MS in industrial engineering from Ohio State University, is also a professor at the IESE Business School, the Times Of India reported. However, Tatas haven’t officially commented on Cruz’s appointment yet.
The Tata Group last week took over Air India from the government and is learnt to be finalising a team of top-notch professionals to revive the airline. The new Air India board is likely to be helmed by Tata Group chairman N Chandrasekaran himself.
Tata Group has not yet spelled out their plans for the airline structure. Tata Group is now running AI, AI Express, Vistara and AirAsia India. According to the report, Vistara will remain a separate entity till Singapore Airlines, 49 percent stakeholder in it, agrees to a merger with AI.
Days after Air India’s take over, Ratan Tata — Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons and Chairman Tata Trusts, put out a welcome message for the new Air India flyers on Wednesday. Air India’s official Twitter handle posted an 18-second clip playing Ratan Tata’s welcome note. “The Tata Group welcomes Air India’s new customers.”
“The Tata group welcomes Air India’s new customers and is excited to work together to make Air India the airline of choice in terms of passenger comfort and service,” Ratan Tata said in a recorded message that was played in-flight. The message was also shared by the airline on social media this morning. Tatas had set up Tata Airlines in 1932. In 1946, it was renamed Air India. The government took control of the airline in 1953, but JRD Tata continued to be its chairman till 1977.
On Thursday, government formally handed over the airline to the Tata Group, nearly four months after the salt-to-software conglomerate placed the winning bid for the airline. After a competitive bidding process, the government had on October 8 last year sold Air India to Talace Private Limited — a subsidiary of the Tata Group’s holding company — for Rs 18,000 crore. Of this, Rs 15,300 crore was taken on as debt and Rs 2,700 crore was paid to the Centre in cash.
For servicing the high-cost debt that it has taken on with the airline, a consortium led by the State Bank of India has approved a plan to provide long-term debt to the Tata Group. The huge amount of debt carried by Air India, resulting from years of loss-making operations, was one of the key hindrances in the past disinvestment attempts by the government.
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