The Air India airlines are officially handed over to Talace Private Limited, a Special-Purpose Vehicle of Tata Sons, after the completion of the sale procedure. Air India was founded in 1932 by J.R.D. Tata. The original name of the airline was Tata Air Services later renamed Tata Airlines. After around 7 decades the airline is officially handed over to Tata Group by the Government as the Airline faced losses from a past period of time.
Let's have a quick recap of the journey of Tata Airlines; From Tata Airlines to Air India and then back to its original owners:
Air India whose original name was Tata Air Services was founded by J.R.D. Tata in 1932. The name of the airline was later renamed Tata Airlines. The airline launched its first domestic flight from Bombay to Trivandrum with a six-seater Miles Merlin.
The airline helped the Royal Air Force with troop movements, the rescue of refugees, shipping of supplies and maintenance of aircraft. After World War II, Tata Airlines became a public limited company on 29 July 1946 under the name of Air India.
49% of the airline was acquired by the Government of India in 1948. The airline's first International flight was on 8 June 1948.
In 1953, the government purchased the majority stake from Tata Sons. After this, the company was renamed Air India International Limited. The domestic flights were transferred to Indian Airlines.
On 21 January 1960, it became the first Asian airline to enter the Jet Age. On 11 June 1962, Air India became the world's first all-jet airline.
According to the reports, in 2001, Air India approximately suffered a loss of Rs. 570 million because of corruption by Michael Mascarenhas.
In 2004, they launched a wholly-owned low-cost subsidiary, Air India Express.
After the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines under Air India Limited, the airline continued to suffer loss after this. They tried many ways to overcome the losses but in the end in 2013, that time Civil Aviation Minister, Ajit Singh suggested that Privatization is the only leftover idea for the survival of the airline.
To clear the pending dues, the airline raised funds by selling their airplanes.
It became the 27th member of Star Alliance in July 2014. After this, the airline suffered a loss inconsistency and in 2017, the Government of India decided to privatize Air India. In 2021, the government finally issued a tender regarding selling the airlines.
Tata group showed interest in the bid and finally on 8 October 2021, Air India was sold to Talace Private Limited. On 27 January 2022, the airline was officially handed over to Tata Group.