Industry
Airlines
A HOMECOMING FOR AIR INDIA
Under the dynamic and competent leadership of JRD Tata, Air India had attained the reputation of being one of the most prestigious airlines in the world
by B.K. Pandey
A
fter several years of effort, in early October this year, the Government of India finally managed to sell the cash-strapped national carrier Air India to the Tata Group, reportedly for a paltry sum of `18,000 crore. With this major decision by the Government which appears to be a popular one, life for Air India has now completed a full circle as it has finally returned to where it was born.
A VENTURE BY THE TATA GROUP. Air India was originally the creation of the Tata Group headed by JRD Tata in the year 1932 as the first airline in India in the private sector. JRD Tata
himself was a pilot and was an iconic pioneer in the domain of civil aviation. In February 1929, JRD Tata became the first Indian to get a commercial pilot licence. Three years later in October 1932, he was credited with flying the first single-engine de Haviland Puss Moth carrying air mail from the airfield at Drigh Road in Karachi to the Juhu aerodrome in Bombay, now Mumbai. This inaugural flight then continued to Madras, now known as Chennai. The venture by JRD Tata to set up an airline in the private sector was known initially as Tata Air Services and later was renamed later as Tata Airlines. On October 15, 1932, the first domestic flight by the newly set up airline piloted by JRD Tata with passengers on
PHOTOGRAPHS: Boeing, Air India / Twitter
Air India is back in the folds of the TATA Group and hopes to regain its lost glory under their leadership
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SP’S AIRBUZ • Issue 5 • 2021
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