Tata Group Takes Over Air India: The Tata group is in full swing to take charge at Air India ever since the company bought the airlines major from the central government earlier this year. From chalking out dates to take over Air India completely, to appointing officers — the Ratan Tata-owned firm is doing everything to revamp the airline company which has been struggling to keep up with the aviation business for quite some time now. The Tata Group, two months back, bought a struggling state-owned Air India from the central government by placing a bid of Rs 18,000 crore at an auction.
After a hustle for one-and-a-half years, the Tata Group acquired Air India and has since been in the works to take it forward as soon as possible. According to the share purchase agreement, Air India will pass over to Tata by January, next year
Here is What We Know So Far About the Tata Acquisition of Air India
1. Tata Group is looking for officials who can successfully run the airline major. Tata Sons is likely to select aviation industry veteran Fred Reid as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Air India. Reid, who has over 35 years of experience in the aviation industry, has worked with major companies. He has served as president of Lufthansa German Airlines, COO and president of Delta Airlines, CEO of Virgin America and senior advisor to the CEO and co-founder of Airbnb. Reid is currently the president of Surf Air Mobility. The aviation veteran is not new to the Tata Group, and has worked as a resort manager at Taj Group of Hotels in the 1970s.
2. Apart from the CEO, Tata Sons is also looking for other major officials. The industry conglomerate is considering making Nipun Aggarwal the Chief Financial Officer of Air India, BusinessLine said in its report quoting sources. Aggarwal joined Tata Sons in 2017 and serves as the vice president of the company at the moment. He is the man behind the strategy, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) of the group’s steel, infrastructure and defence verticals. Aggarwal boasts of a wide portfolio in the corporate sector.
3. According to media reports, the Tata Group is still in process of the share-purchase transaction. “Air India share purchase transaction is currently underway. We are working with the government of India to complete the process. We will refrain from commenting on any speculation till such time the deal is concluded,” the reports quoted Tata Sons as saying.
4. The Tata Sons is also working on a blueprint of a 100-day plan under the watch of Fred Reid. Through this plan, Tata Group is aiming to improve the service standard of Air India. “As part of the 100-day plan, the aim is to improve basic service standards. While these issues cannot be improved completely during the first 100 days, improvements can happen. Also, these numbers (on-time performance, passenger complaints, etc.) are reported monthly, and any improvement will be for everyone to see,” said the ET report quoting an anonymous source.
5. Tata Sons is set to take full control over Air India by the third week of January next year, Union aviation minister confirmed during a Times Now summit in November. Before that, Times of India had in a report said that the process will be done by January 23, 2022. “The long stop date of January 23, 2022, is the outer limit by when Tata’s wholly owned subsidiary Talace has to take over AI. This date has been agreed upon by both the parties (seller government and buyer Tatas),” said TOI in its report quoting sources.
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