October 8
Tata Group has emerged as the winning bidder to takeover Air India, an airline that they started and further the government decided to nationalise the air carrier in 1953.
TATA Group got back Air India after a gap of 68 years.
“Welcome back, Air India!”, Ratan Tata tweeted.
“The Tata Group winning the bid for Air India is great news! While admittedly it will take considerable effort to rebuild Air India, it will hopefully provide a very strong market opportunity to the Tata Group’s presence in the aviation industry,” he said.
“On an emotional note, Air India, under the leadership of Mr JRD Tata, had, at one time, gained the reputation of being one of the most prestigious airlines in the world. Tatas will have the opportunity of regaining the image and reputation it enjoyed in earlier years. Mr JRD Tata would have been overjoyed if he was in our midst today,” Ratan Tata tweeted.
“We also need to recognize and thank the government for its recent policy of opening select industries to the private sector. Welcome back, Air India!,” he said.
Ratan Tata shares an old picture of J.R.D. Tata getting down from an Air India aircraft
Ratan Tata tweeted an old photograph of the company’s former Chairman J.R.D. Tata getting down from an Air India aircraft, minutes after Tata Sons won the bid to regain control of the airline.
JRD Tata founded Air India in 1932 and it’s name was Tata Airlines.
In 1946, the aviation division of Tata Sons was listed as Air India, and in 1948, Air India International was launched with flights to Europe.
In 1953, Air India was nationalised and over the next four decades, it dominated the domestic airspace.
