Ratan Tata demise: “On an emotional note, Air India, under the leadership of Mr. J.R.D. Tata had, at one time, gained the reputation of being one of the most prestigious airlines in the world. Tatas will have the opportunity of regaining the image and reputation it enjoyed in earlier years. Mr JRD Tata would have been overjoyed if he was in our midst today.” Ratan Tata had said in a statement on October 8, 2021.
Ratan Tata’s passion for aviation is well known and after taking over as Tata Sons Chairman in 1991, he made several attempts to venture back into aviation sector but those were “thwarted” several times. Air India, established by JRD Tata as Tata Airlines, was nationalised in 1953 and remained under state control until 2021.
For Rata Tata, who passed away on Wednesday, the acquisition of Air India was an attempt to bring the legacy back home.
It was an “emotional call” to take over a debt-ridden airlines for Rs 18,000 crore, when he could have started other airlines with such an investment, feel many aviation industry insiders.
Many would not know that Ratan Tata also wanted to venture into business jets around 2011 and held two meeting with Captain GR Gopinath, the Indian entrepreneur and founder of Air Deccan, but the deal fell through at the last minute after his successor Cyrus Mistry, who took over in 2013, did not give the go ahead.
In 2013, Tata started two airline ventures Vistara with Singapore Airlines and AirAsia India in partnership with Malaysia’s AirAsia Berhad and Delhi-based Telestra Tradeplace.
“To acquire Air India there must have been some deep urge… it’s like romantic story of Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman in the world, who sparked the Trojan War. You wonder what made him (Ratan Tata) do this. Air India was a princess stolen during Nehru’s (former PM) time, so I could understand JRD Tata’s urge to get it back. What passions drive men to repossess what they lost,” Gopinath tells Business Today.
Recollecting his two brief meetings with Ratan Tata at Tata House in Mumbai, Gopinath, who pioneered the low-cost flight services in the country, says he was not all rational, calculating business guy but someone who staked everything to acquire Air India.
“He paid an astronomical cost of something around Rs 15,000 crore with which we can start around 20 airlines as you don’t need more than Rs 1,000 crore to start an airline. What drove him shows that there is something more to the man who is possessed of dream that haunted him like we should get it back,” further explains Gopinath.
His demise comes as Air India is in process to integrate its operations with merger of Air Asia with Air India Express and Vistara with Air India. The airline is going through some real turbulent times with this massive merger exercise as it continue to face losses.
Aviation was truly a personal passion for Ratan Tata. In November 2010, while address a government event in Dehradun, he had publically said: “We went through three governments, three Prime Ministers and each time there was a particular individual who thwarted our efforts to form another airline.” Being a true gentlemen, he never named anyone.
In 2007, he became the oldest Indian to fly F-16 at the Aero India in Bengaluru. In early 2022, an unwell Ratan Tata took an ambu-lift to board an Airbus A350, the latest long-range jet that the company flew to Mumbai for a demo flight, and flew for around 40 minutes sitting right behind pilot on jump seat.