Air India Divestment: Life came in a full circle for Maharaja on Thursday, January 27 as India’s first commercial carrier Air India returned to the Tata Group on the day. The government officially handed over the national carrier to the business conglomerate, after PM Narendra Modi met Tata Group chairperson N. Chandrasekaran.
Air India was established 90 years ago in 1932 under the leadership of Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata, fondly known as JRD Tata, the first chairman of Tata Group. During its initial years, Air India was called Tata Airlines. It was later nationalised and renamed as Air India post independence of India, which meant that the Tatas stayed out of the business. However, the JRD Tata, who himself was an aviator and the first civil aviation pilot of India, kept the company close to his heart. This followed when his successor Ratan Tata took over the operations of the group.
The First Flight
JRD Tata flew the first flight of Tata Airlines on October 15, 1932. The first carrier flew on Karachi-Ahmedabad-Bombay route on a de Havilland Puss Moth aircraft that JRD Tata himself operated. In the first year itself, after flying for around around 260,000 kilometers, the company gained around Rs 60,000. Years later, the Tata Group set up Air-India International along with the government.
Sky High Goals
In its five years of its operations, the profit amount of Tata Airlines mounted to Rs 6,00,000, as the wealthy in India loved the idea of aircrafts flying to different parts of the world from their cities and therefore arranged chartered flights for themselves to fly abroad.
Maharaja’s Birth
The iconic Maharaja came a year later in 1938, when Bobby Kooka, who was one of the first employees of Tata Airlines, designed the logo for the company — giving the carrier its identity for decades to come.
Nationalisation and Losses
As Air India International forayed in the international aviation domain, earning name for its punctuality and high-end services, the threat of nationalisation loomed over the company ever since India’s independence. In 1953, the government passed the Air Corporations Act and nationalised both the carriers. Tata Airlines was renamed as Air India after this.
The Tatas still kept its brainchild close to heart, with JRD Tata being retained as the chairperson of the company. Despite this, Air India continued to be a household name for Indians, with no other competition in sight.
However, that did not last for long as he had to resign in 1978 following an air crash that killed 213 people on board. Two years later, the government re-appointed him as a member of the Board but JRD Tata lost his chairmanship. This decision first impacted the business of Air India, which continued seeing losses.
Ratan Tata, JRD’s successor, took over as the chairman of Air India eventually, after his predecessor stepped down in 1986. However, the political turmoil in India kept Ratan Tata from foraying in the civil aviation sector.
Since the 1990s, the profit steadily declined and by 2012, Air India accumulated Rs 63,000 crore in debt and losses.
Quests to Privatise
There have been multiple bids to privatise the company — once when Ratan Tata tried to buy 40 per cent stake at Air India, and another time when the Narendra Modi government tried to sell 76 per cent stake.
But as it is said popularly, third time was the charm for Air India to get privatised. In 2020, the Modi government 2.0 again attempted to privatise the debt-ridden airlines, this time trying to sell 100 per cent of it. The plan worked, and Ratan Tata bought back the company his predecessor, JRD Tata, held so close to heart for a whopping amount of Rs 18,000 crore.
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