New Delhi Mar 21 PTI European aircraft manufacturer Airbus is in talks with Tata Group and Indian carriers for a deal regarding the procurement of its wide-bodied A350XWB planes president and MD of Airbus India South Asia Remi Maillard said on MondayThe Tata Group currently runs four Indian carriers Air India Air India Express Vistara and AirAsia India In India only Vistara and Air India have wide-bodied aircraft in their fleetWide-bodied planes like A350XWB have larger fuel tanks that allow them to travel longer distances as compared to narrow-bodied aircraft like A320NEO A350XWB aircraft can travel above 8000 nautical miles with flying time of approximately 18 hours in one flight When asked if Airbus is in talks with Tata and Indian carriers for the A350XWB aircraft deal Maillard said We are obviously in talks with all airlines The new owner of Air India Tatas are existing customers of Airbus Tatas have Vistara and AirAsia India with them as we know We have developed long standing trustful and respected relationship with the Tata Group he stated at a press conference hereThe Centre had sold Air India and Air India Express to the Tata Group in October last year Maillard said Tatas are Airbuss partner in the defence business too We are industrialising and manufacturing together our C-295 military transport aircraft for the Indian Air Force IAF he notedOf course we will be privileged to continue supporting the ambition of the Tata Group in the aviation sector across all the complete spectrum he addedThe wide-bodied aircraft fleet in India has remained stagnant for the last 20 years he saidThe single-aisle aircraft fleet has multiplied by a factor of six in the same time period he notedWe predict a 62 per cent yearly average growth for the air traffic out of India The world average is at 39 per cent Maillard notedAirbus is quite bullish on the long-haul international market out of India he saidWe believe the kind of revolution we have witnessed in the domestic traffic in the last 20 years will now happen in the long haul market he saidWe believe that the new generation aircraft the A350 will be the trigger for this revolution in the international long haul market the MD added A350XWB aircraft have 300 to 410 seats in three-class configuration It has full LED mood lightning and largest overhead bins Airbus said A350XWB has quietest cabin and 25 per cent less fuel consumption among all the wide-bodied aircraft Earlier this month Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran was appointed as the Chairman of Air India However Tata Sons are yet to appoint the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Air India PTI DSP DSP TDS TDS
New Delhi [India], March 21 (ANI): Airbus said on Monday it is in talks with Tata Group airlines including Air India and Vistara to supply new A350 aircraft.
New Delhi Feb 27 PTI The government is looking to hire a person to manage and monetise land as well as other immovable properties of AI Assets Holding Ltd AIAHL that are estimated to be worth around Rs 14000 crore The designation of the person will be Chief of Properties and Monetisation Officer and will report to the board of AIAHL which was set up in 2019 for holding the debt and non-core assets of Air India Air India which was state-owned at that time was acquired by Tatas in January this year The non-core assets of Air India including land and building valued at Rs 14718 crore are with AIAHL AIAHL is looking to appoint for three years a Chief of Properties and Monetisation Officer with a minimum of 10-year experience in properties and real estate management landproperties acquisition or monetisationdisposal according to an advertisement The monthly salary and allowances of the selected candidate would be Rs 150 lakh with a provision of a three per cent annual increment The last date for submitting applications for the post is March 7 Bachelors degree in civil engineering will be the basic qualification for such candidates and having an MBA degree from a premier institute will be given preference according to the advertisement As the Chief of Properties and Monetisation Officer the candidate would be the in-charge of all the properties and real estate management activities of AIAHL The candidate will also look into landproperties transferacquisitionleasing monetisationdisposal Among other responsibilities the candidate will be required to do assets planning and budgeting costs monitoring of properties arrange effective upkeep and maintenance of ownleased properties handle their legal and statutory and regulatory compliances and management PTI JD RAM HRS hrs
New Delhi Jan 27 PTI The government has settled over Rs 61000 crore of Air Indias legacy debt and other liabilities that were left in AIAHL -- the company holding residual assets and liabilities of the airline -- ahead of the transfer of the national carrier to the Tata Group a top official said on Thursday The airline had a total debt of Rs 61562 crore as of August 31 2021 Of this the Tata Group took over Rs 15300 crore and the rest 75 per cent or around Rs 46000 crore was transferred to a special purpose vehicle AI Asset Holding Ltd AIAHL AIAHL also held Air Indias non-core assets such as stake in Hotel Corp of India HCIL paintings and artifacts and immovable properties In an interview with PTI Tuhin Kanta Pandey Secretary Department of Investment and Public Asset Management DIPAM -- which ran the Air India privatisation process -- said Parliament had last month given nod for spending of Rs 62057 crore towards equity infusion in AIAHL for repayment of dues and liabilities of Air India Of this broadly about Rs 61131 crore has been used to repay the entire debt and other liabilities such as fuel dues to oil companies he said The interest outgo on the debt and other liabilities was very high and it was decided tosquare off the debt now As of August 31 2021 the airlines total debt stood at Rs 61562 crore out of which around Rs 46000 crore was transferred to AIAHL The airline also had about Rs 15000 crore excess liabilities towards unpaid fuel bills and other operational creditors So the debt and liabilities with the government was around Rs 61000 crore Both excess debt and excess current liabilities whatever was remaining with the government about Rs 61131 crore have been cleared Pandey said Whatever was to be borne by the government that the government has squared off rather than paying it off later we found that it is carrying higher rate of interest It wasnt worthwhile to retain it and pay it off later If we take it to AIAHL and pay it later we have to pay higher rate of interest So we have chosen to square it off straight away he said Tata Group was in October last year announced as the winning bidder for Air India with a bid amount ofRs 18000 crore Tatas have paid Rs 2700 crore cash and taken over Rs 15300 crore of the airlines debt The deal also includes sale of Air India Express and ground handling arm AISATS Tata Group has already refinanced its Rs 15300 crore debt in Air India and brought in new lenders Tatas beat the Rs 15100-crore offer by a consortium led by SpiceJet promoter Ajay Singh and the reserve price of Rs 12906 crore set by the government for the sale of its 100 per cent stake in the loss-making carrier PTI JD ANZ ABM ABM
New Delhi Jan 27 PTI Salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group on Thursday took over Air India and vowed to turn the loss-making carrier it had founded but had lost control nearly seven decades back into a world-class airline N Chandrasekaran Chairman of Tata Sons which in October last year beat a consortium led by rival SpiceJet promoter to win the bid for the national carrier first called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi before heading to the Air India office where the takeover formalities were completed A new board of directors met shortly thereafter formalising the management takeover Both the government and Tatas made separate announcements of completion of the transaction -- the first privatisation in nearly two decades that will put an end to thousands of crores of taxpayers money being provided over the years to keep the airline afloat For Tatas Air India will be the third airline It already operates Vistara in joint venture with Singapore Airlines and AirAsia India in partnership with AirAsia Group The finance ministry in a statement said the Air India strategic disinvestment transaction has been completed with the government receiving Rs 2700 crore from Talace Pvt Ltd a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons Tatas took over Rs 15300 crore of debt in Air India and Air India Express Ltd while the remaining Rs 46262 crore loan plus an outstanding of about Rs 15000 crore towards unpaid fuel bills were paid off by the government It is indeed noteworthy that the disinvestment process of airindiain has been brought to a successful conclusion in a time-bound manner Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia tweeted That proves the governments ability and the resolve to carry out disinvestment effectively in non-strategic sectors in the future Air India will give Tatas immediate access to valuable flying rights and landing slots and it will also gain control of low-cost short-haul international carrier Air India Express as well as a 50 per cent stake in a ground handling company with SATS Ltd With Rs 20 crore daily loss and a market share that more than halved to less than 10 per cent last year Tatas have their task cut out as it has to not just repair the shabby customer services at Air India but also deal with highly unionised and surplus manpower as well as an ageing and a mixed fleet of 141 aircraft Tatas cannot retrench any employee for at least a year according to the terms of the deal Air Indias regional arm Alliance Air is not part of the deal In a tweet Department of Investment and Public Asset Management DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said the strategic disinvestment transaction of Air India has concluded successfully with transfer of 100 per cent shares of Air India to Talace along with management control A new board led by the strategic partner takes charge of Air India Pandey said after completion of the handover process at the airlines headquarters here In October last year Tatas won the bid for Air India through a competitive bidding for Rs 18000 crore including the cash component of Rs 2700 crore We are excited to have Air India back in the Tata Group and are committed to making this a world-class airline Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran said in a statement I warmly welcome all the employees of Air India to our Group and look forward to working together Tata Group Founder JRD Tata had originally launched the airline in 1932 as the nations first carrier flying mail between Karachi in then-undivided British-ruled India and Bombay It was nationalised in 1953 The Maharaja once shone brightly in Indian skies but competition from the private sector coupled with faulty decisions on aircraft purchases heterogeneity of fleet and a failed marriage with Indian Airlines led to its downfall In 2005-06 the airline placed an order for a new fleet of 111 Boeing aircraft to coincide with the India visit of the then US President George W Bush Its long haul B777 and B747 aircraft had vanity first class cabin that was rarely filled and the airline did not offer direct non-stop flights from major growth centres But the biggest undoing was the 2006-07 merger of Air India and Indian Airlines -- the amalgamation was to ensure better synergies of their resources but resources aircraft men material and machines remained divided And without employee layoffs problems like excess manpower got magnified A decade back it had some 300 employees per aircraft which came down to 95 last year 13500 employees of Air India and Air India Express on a fleet of 141 aircraft This ratio is still higher than private airlines In a statement Tata Group said Chandrasekaran was joined by Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons Ratan Tata in acknowledging and thanking the Government of India and its various departments for the successful completion of this important transaction Announcing that it has taken over the management and control of the airline starting Thursday the group acknowledged Modis commitment to reforms and faith in Indias entrepreneurship spirit which made this historic transition possible Our Prime Minister has in action demonstrated what his commitment to Minimum Government Maximum Governance means We philosophically agree with the Prime Ministers vision for the aviation sector of making it affordable and ensuring it contributes to boosting Ease of Living for citizens the statement said Separately a consortium of lenders led by State Bank of India SBI has agreed to provide loans to Tata Group for the smooth operations of loss-making Air India When the Tata Group won the bid to acquire Air India in October last year Ratan Tata had tweeted an old photograph of the companys former Chairman JRD Tata getting down from an Air India aircraft stating Welcome Back Air India 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 Groups presence in the aviation industry he had said Tatas Ratan Tata had said will have the opportunity of regaining the image and reputation it enjoyed in earlier years While many airlines have come and gone from the Indian skies since the time when the first move was made to privatise Air India to date the salt-to-software conglomerate has never let the love affair with aviation more so with Air India that its former Chairman Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata JRD had to go off the radar It is said that Tata group executives used to complain in private that JRD -- the pioneer of the Indian aviation industry -- spent more time worrying about Air India than the Tata Group when he was heading both the entities Nevertheless they also knew heading Air India as Chairman was never just a job but was a labour of love for him From the first airmail service flight from Karachi to Bombay in October 1932 with JRD steering a Puss Moth aircraft to wresting control of Air India 89 years later the conglomerate has had a roller coaster ride in the Indian civil aviation history Tata Airlines went public in 1946 as a joint stock company named Air India and the maiden flight on June 8 1948 of Air-India International -- the first public-private enterprise of independent India -- with its iconic mascot Maharaja to Europe remain the breakout landmarks in the skies of the group It is said that JRD was surprised when the groups proposal made in October 1947 to float Air-India International with the government holding 49 per cent Tatas 25 per cent and the rest by public was accepted within weeks at a time when it took at least two years not to make a decision However the flights have not been without headwinds In 1953 when the then government of Jawaharlal Nehru nationalised Air India JRD fought vehemently against it After the nationalisation of Air India the groups link with civil aviation was through JRD who served as the state carriers Chairman for 25 years Yet the group kept the fire of re-entering the aviation sector burning PTI JD RKL IAS DSP DP ANZ RAM
New Delhi Jan 27 PTI Smart and well-groomed cabin crew members better on-time performance of flights calling passengers as guests and enhanced in-flight meal service are some of the measures the Tata Group is focusing on at Air India immediately after taking over the airline on Thursday sources saidThe employees have been told by the Tata Group that there will be a change in image attitude and perception of Air India they saidCabin crew members have been instructed to address all passengers as guests and cabin crew supervisor will have to ensure safety and service standards provided to the guests they notedThe crew members will have to be smartly dressed and well-groomed and there will be grooming executives who will be conducting checks at the airports they mentionedSince on-time performance is extremely important all endeavours will have to be made by the crew members to ensure that the doors are closed 10 minutes before the flights departure they saidA special audio message by Ratan TataChairman Emeritus of Tata Sons will also be played in flights and crew will be instructed on when and how to play it they saidAccording to the sources enhanced meal service will be provided to passengers in select flights in the initial days post the takeover This enhanced meal service will be expanded to passengers in all Air India flights in a phased manner they saidThe enhanced meal service was provided on four flights -- AI864 Mumbai-Delhi AI687 Mumbai-Delhi AI945 Mumbai-Abu Dhabi and AI639 Mumbai-Bengaluru -- on Thursday they notedThe enhanced meal service will be served on Mumbai-Newark flight and five Mumbai-Delhi flights on Friday the sources saidThe government on Thursday handed over Air India to the Tata Group nearly 69 years after it was taken from the conglomerate PTI DSP ZMN
New Delhi Jan 27 PTI Tata Group chief N Chandrasekaran on Thursday reached out to employees of Air India asking them to work together to build the airline that the country needs while asserting that the golden age of the carrier lies ahead In a welcome letter to the employees of Air India after the Tata Group took over the management and control of the airline Chandrasekaran Chairman of Tata Sons reflected on the airlines brilliant past but said the entire nation is now waiting to see what we will achieve together From the day of the announcement of Tatas winning the bid one word has been on everyones lips Homecoming We are proud to welcome Air India back into the Tata family after all these years he wrote Chandrasekaran further saidI like many others have enjoyed reflecting on stories from the airlines brilliant past My first flight was with Air India in December 1986 and I will never forget how special it felt to be onboard or the exhilaration as we soared into the sky He however said while such memories are wonderful now is the time to look ahead Today is the beginning of a new chapter The entire nations eyes are on us waiting to see what we will achieve together To build the airlines our country needs we need to look to the future Chandrasekaran said Stating that the Tata Group has its own storied past he saidIt is evolving adapting and embracing the future that we best honour a glorious history I am convinced that the golden age of Air India lies ahead Our journey towards it starts now Welcome And welcome back In a separate social media post themed Looking back looking forward Chandrasekaran reiterated that Tata Group is committed to making Air India a world-class airline Recollecting his maiden flight he saidLike for many of us my first flight was on Air India in December 1986 I was a young intern then at Tata Consultancy Services I vividly recall even after all this time how I felt that day Terming it a feeling of excitement and a special experience he saidThere was also a strong sense of belongingness In conclusion he wroteToday we are as excited The Tata Group looks forward to working with Air India and taking our National Airline to new heights in future PTI RKL ANU ANU
New Delhi [India], January 27 (ANI): The Tata Group, which is set to take over Air India on Thursday, will focus on improving the airlines' On-Time-Performance, sources said.
New Delhi Jan 27 PTI A consortium of lenders led by State Bank of India SBI has agreed to provide loans to Tata Group for the smooth operations of loss-making Air India Tata Group which won the bid to acquire the national carrier along with Air India Express and 50 per cent stake in AISATS in October last year is expected to formally takeover the airline on Thursday Sources said the SBI-led consortium has agreed to grant both term loans and working capital loans depending on the airlines requirements All large lenders including Punjab National Bank Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of India are part of the consortium they added Talace Private Limited -- a subsidiary of the Tata Groups holding company Tata Sons -- on October 8 2021 won the bid to acquire debt-ridden Air India A unit of the holding company of the salt-to-software conglomerate had offered Rs 18000 crore as part of its winning bid -- Rs 15300 crore for Air Indias existing debt and Rs 2700 crore to be paid as cash to the government On October 11 2021 a Letter of Intent LoI was issued to the Tata Group confirming the governments willingness to sell its 100 per cent stake in the airline On October 25 the Centre signed the share purchase agreement for the deal The term loans to Talace will help in retiring the high cost borrowings of Air India the sources said The deal with the government does not include land and buildings As per the agreement Tata Group will retain all the employees of Air India at least for a year With the acquisition Tata Group will have access to a fleet of 117 wide-body and narrow-body aircraft and 24 narrow-body aircraft of Air India Express Besides it will get control of 4400 domestic and 1800 international landing and parking slots at domestic airports Tata Group had surpassed the Rs 15100 crore-offer by a consortium led by SpiceJet promoter Ajay Singh and the reserve price of Rs 12906 crore set by the government for the sale of its 100 per cent stake in the loss-making carrier While this will be the Centres first privatisation since 2003-04 Air India will be the third airline brand in the Tatas stable as it holds a majority interest in AirAsia India and Vistara a joint venture with Singapore Airlines Ltd As of August 31 Air India had a total debt of Rs 61562 crore Around 75 per cent of this debt or Rs 46262 crore will be transferred to a special purpose vehicle AIAHL before handing over the loss-making airline to Tata Group Air India started suffering losses every year since its merger with Indian Airlines in 2007-08 A Turnaround Plan TAP and a Financial Restructuring Plan FRP were approved for Air India by the previous UPA regime in 2012 However the TAP did not work out as expected and Air India continued to reel under losses Over the last decade more than Rs 110 lakh crore has been infused by way of cash support and loan guarantees into Air India to keep it afloat PTI DP ANZ RAM
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