Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran said on Saturday that his company is committed to transforming Air India, which delivers exceptional service and performance globally, into a top class airline. Tata Group acquired Air India by 2022, after the government signed a share-purchase agreement with Tata Sons to sell Air India for INR 18 billion.
Chandrasekaran responded to a question from Ravi Viswanathan (Managing Director of TVS Supply Chain Solutions Ltd) during a free-side chat at the Global Alumni Meet for NIT Trichy. He was asked what people should expect after the acquisition of Air India by Tata Group 2022.
“I am committed to making Air India a world-class airline.”
“In terms of hardware, flight experience, customer service, technology, and in every other way.” Chandrasekaran said.
On a lighter tone, he appealed the audience gathered to urge the aircraft makers Boeing and Airbus deliver the aircraft according to the orders made by Air India.
“You need to help by pushing Boeing and Airbus so that they deliver me the planes,” said he.
Air India Group has ordered 470 planes, 250 of which were for Airbus and 220 for Boeing. Air India placed an additional order in December 2024 for 100 wide-body A350 aircraft and 90 narrow-body A320 aircraft, including the A321 Neo.
Chandrasekaran, in response to Viswanathan’s second question on the semiconductor industry said that there was a great opportunity, and Tata Sons had an exposure of USD 18 billion for precision manufacturing, semiconductor assembly, and testing.
“Our semiconductor fab will be operational by 2026.”
We have a head start in both the energy and semiconductor sectors. He stated that “we have to build an entire ecosystem in semiconductor sector. Thousands of companies will be coming up in this ecosystem in the next 12-24 months.”
He said that government policies and a focused, persistent strategy are needed to support the semiconductor industry.
“More investment is needed and research must be conducted. (In the semiconductor sector) academic institutions need to get involved. So, there is a lot of work to be done.”, he replied.