The Tata Sons board has appointed N Chandrasekaran, the chairman of Tata Sons, has been officially appointed as chairman of Air India. The Tata Sons Board on Monday cleared the appointment of Chandrasekaran as the next chairman of the domestic carrier. However, the hunt for Air India CEO continues. In addition, Alice GeeVarghese Vaidyan, former CMD of General Insurance Corporation and Sanjiv Mehta, chairman of Hindustan Unilever, have also been inducted as independent directors on the board.
In February, the board of Tata Sons Ltd, the holding company and promoter of $110 billion Tata group companies, has reappointed N Chandrasekaran as Executive Chairman for another five years.
“At its meeting on February 11, 2022, the board of Tata Sons reviewed the last five years and considered the reappointment of its Executive Chairman N Chandrasekaran,” it said in a statement.
Ratan N Tata who was a special invitee to this meeting expressed his satisfaction on the progress and performance of the Tata group under the leadership of Chandrasekaran. “He recommended his term be renewed for a further five-year period,” Tata Sons said.
Tata, on February 14, announced Ayci’s appointment as CEO and Managing Director of previously state-run Air India after taking over the debt-laden airline in January in a $2.4 billion equity and debt deal.
However, earlier this month, Turkish national Ilker Ayci had declined to be the chief executive of Air India as “some sections of the Indian media” had attempted to “colour” his appointment in an undesirable manner.
He also mentioned, “I remain grateful to the Chairman of Tata Group, Mr. N. Chandrasekaran and the Tata Group for extending to me the honor and the opportunity to lead Air India.”
The Tata group now plans to expand Air India’s network, modernize its fleet, spruce up its customer service and make it the world’s most technologically advanced airline, Chandrasekaran had recently said while addressing the airline’s employees. Improving Air India’s basic service standards, on-time performance, issues related to passenger complaints and customer call centres will be top priorities in the coming months for the group.
In January, the goverment officially handed over Air India to the Tata Group. Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran said the group is very happy to have Air India back in its fold. 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. The group was selected as the winning bidder in an auction in October, in which it bid Rs 18,000 crore as an enterprise value for Air India, including taking on Rs 15,300 crore of the airline’s debt. Air India also comes with a highly unionized workforce with a history of disrupting schedules for demands, and an aging and mixed fleet of more than 150 aircraft, potentially complicating a revival.
Air India was started by the Tata Group in 1932. However, after the country got independence, the airline was nationalised in 1953 by the then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
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