Air India’s Maharaja opened his eyes to a whole new world on Thursday, with the Tata Group reacquiring its old airline along with AI Express and a 50% stake in ground handler AI-SATS. Pilots on all AI flights of Friday will greet guests with the line, “This is your Captain speaking… Welcome to the future of Air India”. And Tata Sons chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran promised employees of the airline that “the golden age lies ahead”.
The divestment was completed on Thursday — exactly two years after the preliminary information memorandum was issued. The government transferred 100% shares in AI to Tata’s wholly owned subsidiary Talace Pvt Ltd along with management control.
