'Welcome Back, Air India': Ratan Tata Tweets As Tata Sons Becomes Owner Of Air India Again

According to reports, the salt-to-software conglomerate placed a winning bid of Rs 18,000 crore re-acquire 100 stakes of the airline.

New Delhi: Tata Sons has on Friday won the bid to acquire debt-laden state-run national carrier Air India more than half a century after it ceded control to the government.

According to reports, the salt-to-software conglomerate placed a winning bid of Rs 18,000 crore re-acquire 100 stakes of the airline.

Not just a 100 per cent stake in Air India and its low-cost arm, Air India Express, Tata's winning bid also includes a 50 per cent stake in ground-handling company Air India SATS Airport Services Private Limited (AISATS).

Soon after winning the bid, Ratan Tata took to Twitter to share a message and an image. "Welcome back, Air India", he captioned the post.

In a statement, Ratan Tata shared the "great news" and said: "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 added: "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."

In his statement, the Tata Sons chairman emeritus also thanked the Narendra Modi government "for its recent policy of opening select industries to the private sector". 

According to reports, Tatas beat the Rs 15,100 crore bid offer by a consortium led by SpiceJet promoter Ajay Singh and the reserve price of Rs 12,906 crore set by the government for the sale of its 100 per cent stake in the loss-making carrier.

Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy (JRD) Tata founded Air India in 1932 which was then called 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.

After securing the recent bid, Tata Sons will also get control of 4,400 domestic and 1,800 international landing and parking slots at domestic airports, as well as 900 slots at airports overseas.