Tata Sons' N Chandrasekaran Named Chairman of Air India

Mar. 14—Tata Sons executive chairman N Chandrasekaran has been officially named as the chairman of Air India, the airline which was acquired by Tata Group from the central government last year.

Salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group had won the bid to take over debt-laden state-run Air India by offering INR18,000 crore for it.

The appointment of a new CEO of the formerly state-owned airline is also expected to be finalised soon, according to reports.

Air India had announced earlier this month that former Turkish Airlines boss Ilker Ayci will not take its helm, despite being named the airline's CEO last month.

Ayci — who oversaw extensive cost-cutting at Turkish Airlines — was chosen as the debt-ridden carrier's first foreign CEO in mid-February after Tata group bought it back from the government following 69 years in state ownership.

He is considered to be close to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an ally of Pakistan, which led to controversy once his appointment was announced.

Chandrasekaran was reappointed as Tata Sons' executive chairman for another five years in February.

He had joined the board of Tata Sons in 2016 and took over as Chairman in 2017 at a time when the group was mired in crisis after the ouster of his predecessor Cyrus Mistry in a shock boardroom coup led by Ratan Tata, who heads Tata Trusts — a bunch of philanthropic organizations that hold 66% stake in Tata Sons.

Air India pending cases

Chandrasekaran's appointment comes as central government on Monday stated that Air India has 2,657 cases pending against it in Indian and international courts on matters related to employee service, customer complaints and commercial issues.

"These cases are against Air India as a legal entity and will remain with Air India," said minister of state for civil aviation V K Singh.

The minister said the Centre will not deal with the cases against Air India.

___

(c)2022 the Mint (New Delhi)

Visit the Mint (New Delhi) at www.livemint.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.