"The strategic divestment transaction of Air India successfully concluded today with transfer of 100 per cent shares of Air India to M/s Talace Pvt Ltd along with management control," DIPAM secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said in a tweet. A new board, led by the strategic partner, takes charge of Air India, he added.
Management and leadership changes, in addition to synchronising operations between all its airlines, are showing visible results for Air India. Data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) show that there has been a marked improvement in key operational parameters of Air India after the Tata group took complete control of the national airline in January. One of the most dramatic improvements has been noticed in Air India's passenger load factor (PLF) - a crucial metric of capacity utilisation of an airline's fleet that shows how many seats it has been able to fill on every flight.
Air India on Friday said it has completed the acquisition of its first A350-900 aircraft by way of a finance lease transaction with HSBC through the GIFT City. This is also the first wide body aircraft to be leased through the GIFT City, the country's first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC). In a release, the airline said the transaction was facilitated by its wholly-owned subsidiary AI Fleet Services Ltd (AIFS) and is also the first financing transaction from the orders for 470 aircraft that were made earlier this year.
Tata Sons' unlisted ventures, including Air India, Tata Digital, and Tata Electronics, reported combined net losses of approximately 25,568.8 crore in FY25, a 58.3 per cent increase from the previous year, despite Tata Sons itself remaining profitable for over a decade.
Air India has laid off more than 180 non-flying staff in recent weeks, sources said while the airline maintained that the affected people were not able to utilise the voluntary retirement schemes and reskilling opportunities. The loss-making Air India was taken over by the Tata Group in January 2022 and since then, efforts are being made to streamline the business model. An Air India spokesperson on Friday said that as part of the fitment process, employees in non-flying functions have been assigned roles based on organisational needs and individual merit.
The Air India Group has started vacating its offices, which are currently being operated from government-owned properties, from this month, as part of its strategy to consolidate workspaces across the country. The loss-making Air India and its international budget arm Air India Express were taken over by the Tata Group on January 27 this year, after successfully winning the bid for the airline on October 8, last year. Besides these two airlines, Tata Group also holds a majority 51 per cent stake in Vistara, its joint venture airline with Singapore Airlines (SIA), and a 83.67 per cent stake in budget carrier, AirAsia India.
Former Civil Aviation Minister and senior NCP leader Praful Patel on Wednesday questioned the "silence" of Singapore Airlines over the horrific crash of an Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner in Ahmedabad last week.
Air India on Monday announced a new compensation structure for its pilots and cabin crew, with a guaranteed flying allowance of 40 hours per month for both categories of staff. While the flying allowance has been doubled for pilots, it has been introduced for flight attendants as part of the new compensation structure. Pilots will earn an additional amount as a reward based on the number of years of service with the airline and get an allowance while undergoing training for command or conversion to another aircraft type.
Virtually addressing employees of Air India across the globe, he said for the airline to be the best again there will be an organisational redesign, and it will "require a huge transformation, probably the largest transformation and the change all of you would ever go through". The carrier will expand its "outreach both domestically and internationally" and it has the desire to connect India with every part of the globe, he added.
Air India's flying crew, ground and security staff will soon sport new uniforms designed by fashion designer Manish Malhotra as the Tata Group-owned airline embraces a new global brand identity. As Air India pursues a revival and modernisation plan, the new uniforms are expected to be introduced for the frontline staff by the end of this year and are likely to coincide with the induction of the airline's first wide-body A350 aircraft into its fleet. Malhotra -- whose career spans more than 30 years as a couturier, costume stylist, and entrepreneur -- and his team have started meeting Air India's frontline staff, conducting discussions and fitting sessions with them to better understand their specialised needs, the airline said in a release on Thursday.
Tata Sons on Thursday announced the appointment of Campbell Wilson as chief executive officer and managing director of Air India. Wilson is the founding CEO of low-cost airline Scoot.
The Tata group-owned Air India will induct over 90 aircraft in two years as it looks to widen its footprint and grab a larger market share. The plan includes 56 planes from the mega aircraft order that the airline has now finalised with Airbus and Boeing. These will be in addition to previously announced leases of 36 planes that include Airbus A320Neo, A321Neo, and Boeing 777 aircraft.
Vistara will be merged with Air India on Monday night, and from Tuesday onward, the Vistara flight code will change from 'UK' to 'AI2XXX'.
In a statement, an Air India spokesperson said a passenger travelling in business class was off boarded on the advice of the captain following some argument with members of the crew before the scheduled pushback.
Tatas-owned Air India plans to acquire no-frills carrier AirAsia India and has sought approval from the Competition Commission for the proposed deal. AirAsia India is majority-owned by Tata Sons Private Ltd with a shareholding of 83.67 per cent and the remaining stake is with AirAsia Investment Ltd (AAIL), which is part of Malaysia's AirAsia Group. Full service carrier Air India and its low-cost subsidiary Air India Express were acquired by Talace Private Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons Private Ltd, last year. Besides, Tatas operate full service airline Vistara in a joint venture with Singapore Airlines.
Air India on Thursday unveiled a new brand identity and aircraft livery as the airline moves ahead with its transformation plan since being taken over by Tata Group more than one-and-a-half years ago. The new look re-imagines the iconic Indian window shape, historically used by Air India, into a gold window frame that becomes central to the new brand design system. It symbolises a 'Window of Possibilities', according to a release.
Ending a seven-year-long wait, the Star Alliance Chief Executive Board, at its meeting in London on Monday, gave an endorsement vote to induct Air India into the fold.
Two unions representing Air India pilots have asked members not to accept the revised compensation and employment offer, calling the company's proposals "unfair labour practices." They said any coercion on pilots to sign the offer would lead to industrial unrest. The Tata group airline announced on Monday a new salary structure for pilots and cabin crew.
Singapore's competition regulator CCCS on Tuesday said it has given conditional approval for the proposed merger of Air India and Vistara, more than a year after the announcement of the deal. This was one of the key approvals required for the transaction. The merger of Vistara with Air India under a deal, wherein Singapore Airlines will acquire a 25.1 per cent stake in Air India, was announced in November 2022. Vistara is a joint venture between Singapore Airlines and Tata Group.
Pilots' bodies at Tata Group-owned Air India have accused the airline management of making unilaterally "rapid" and "regressive" changes in the service conditions of pilots. In a letter to Air India Chief Human Resources Officer Suresh Dutt Tripathi on Tuesday, Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) and Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) also stated that "all unilateral violations of their rights and service agreements are creating industrial unrest and shattering employee confidence in the current management". The communication comes amid Air India reducing drastically the annual limit of privilege leave accumulation to 60 days from 300 days earlier, as per a source.
Air India will soon have a new crew management system that will help strengthen rostering rules and enable faster recovery from scheduled disruptions. In a message to the staff on Friday, Air India CEO and MD Campbell Wilson said that in the next two weeks, there will be the CAE Crew Management System that will "strengthen our systems' adherence to rostering rules, improving the tracking of training & qualifications, and enabling faster recovery from schedule disruptions". The new system also comes against the backdrop of concerns flagged by pilots' unions about rostering issues.
Competition Commission has approved Tata Group's proposed acquisition of debt-laden Air India as well as its two subsidiaries. The Rs 18,000 crore-deal that includes the winning bidder Talace taking over Rs 15,300 crore-worth debt, is a major step in the government's efforts over the years to revive the ailing airline. Talace Pvt Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, emerged as the winning bidder in October.
With the Middle East tensions flaring up, Air India has temporarily suspended its Tel Aviv flights and airlines have charted alternative flight paths to avoid the Iranian airspace.
The acquisition will give the Tatas a firm footing on international routes and generate economies of scale.
India's largest public sector bank State Bank of India (SBI) will support Tata group's bid for soon-to-be-privatised Air India by subscribing to Tata Sons debentures or funding the special purpose vehicle (SPV) set up by Tata Sons for the acquisition. Bankers said the credit rating of Tata group's holding company is "AAA" signifying high safety and a combination of Air India with its existing airline businesses would make it a formidable player - leading to a duopoly market with IndiGo. It would also open many business opportunities, including in the retail segment, an official said.
Tata Group's takeover of loss-making national carrier Air India is most likely delayed by a month till January as the completion of procedures taking longer than expected, an official said on Monday. In October, the government accepted the highest bid made by a Tata Sons company for 100 per cent equity shares of Air India and Air India Express along with its 50 per cent stake in ground-handling company AISATS -- the first privatisation in 20 years. At that time, the government had stated that it wanted to complete the transactions, which included Tatas paying Rs 2,700 crore in cash, by December end.
The Tata group may have to deploy upwards of $1 billion to improve the airline's passenger reservation system, upgrade and refurbish Air India's fleet, primarily the wide-body aircraft which are the mainstay for the airline's international operations, people in the know said. While the group has not yet decided on how it intends to integrate Air India with its existing airlines AirAsia India and Vistara, sources said the first task will be to refinance Air India's existing loans, upgrade its aircraft gradually, and rewrite multiple business contracts with vendors and suppliers. "They will have to do 100 things to stabilise the airline and will have to put in a lot of money," DIPAM secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said, confirming that many aircraft are grounded.
Security personnel conducted extensive checks on the aircraft and found no danger, allowing the flight to proceed as planned, a Cochin International Airport spokesperson said in a statement in Kochi.
IndiGo, India's largest airline, has announced the appointment of William Walsh, former British Airways chief and current Director General of IATA, as its new CEO, effective no later than August 3.
... changing seats and in-flight entertainment on its older aircraft.
Sunil Bhaskaran, AirAsia India's chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director (MD), is the front-runner to head the low-cost carrier that will take birth after the merger of Air India Express and AirAsia India, sources said. In a show of confidence, the airline's board extended Bhaskaran's tenure by three years -- until March 2025 -- in a meeting held earlier this year, according to the documents reviewed by Business Standard. Moreover, AirAsia India's board of directors has increased Bhaskaran's salary twice in 2022 -- first in January by 5 per cent and then in June by 7 per cent, the documents showed.
On July 25 and 26, the regulator's team carried out the surveillance of Air India in the areas of internal audit, accident prevention work and availability of required technical manpower.
A group of 219 employees of Air India along with a private financial institution have submitted an expression of interest (EOI) for the national carrier.
The international cargo operations of two major carriers - IndiGo and Air India Group (Air India and Vistara) - are experiencing opposite trajectories despite both the airlines significantly expanding their international flight offerings over the past year. During the fourth quarter of 2023-24, IndiGo's international non-passenger cargo business declined to 6,848 tonnes. This is an 18.2 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) decrease, according to data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)
Tata Group-owned Air India will buy 250 aircraft, including 40 wide-body planes, from Airbus as the airline expands its fleet and operations. This is the first time in more than 17 years that Air India has placed an aircraft order. It is also the first order placed by the carrier under the ownership of Tata Group. On Tuesday, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran said Air India has signed a letter of intent to acquire 250 aircraft from Airbus.
As temperatures soar, booking queries have surged by double digits -- going up to 125 per cent -- for destinations like Kashmir, Shillong, Gangtok, Munnar, Leh, Rishikesh, Guwahati, Imphal, Kodaikanal and the Andamans.
It offers a real opportunity for the flag carrier to compete on the world stage, backed by a leading conglomerate with deep pockets like the Tatas, observes Indrajit Gupta.
Ending its uncomfortable journey in India after eight years, Malaysia-based AirAsia Group on Wednesday said it has exited AirAsia India by selling its remaining 16.67 per cent stake to Tata Group-owned Air India for Rs 155.64 crore. Later in the day, Air India said it has begun the process of creating a single low-cost carrier subsidiary by merging AirAsia India and Air India Express. A working group consisting AirAsia India CEO Sunil Bhaskaran and Air India Express CEO Aloke Singh has been formed for the two carriers' integration, which is expected to take approximately 12 months, it added.
In little over a year, Air India and IndiGo have announced plans to purchase up to 170 wide-body planes as they bet on ambitious expansion and efforts also continue to make India a global aviation hub. Also, the two carriers' orders usher in European aircraft maker Airbus into the country's wide-body space, which has traditionally been dominated by US major Boeing. If narrow-body aircraft orders of Air India, IndiGo and Akasa Air are added to the list, the order book is well over 1,200 planes and that too in less than 14 months or since February 2023.
In a LinkedIn post on Wednesday, February 15, night, Nipun Aggarwal had said Air India, in addition to the order of 470 planes, had the option to purchase 370 aircraft from Airbus and Boeing.
