Air India Board To Resign Today To Make Way For New Team Before Official Handover | Key Things to Know

Air India's Official Handover Latest Update: In October last year, the Centre had signed a share purchase agreement with the Tata Group for the sale of national carrier Air India for Rs 18,000 crore.

New Delhi: The present board of Air India will resign on Thursday to make way for a new team ahead of the official handover of the airline to the Tata Group. “Air India will hold its final Board meeting today. The official nominees of the Board will resign and the new Board will take over,” a government official told The HIndu.

It must be noted that the Central government has issued a notification about the agreement between Air India and special purpose vehicle AIAHL for the transfer of non-core assets, ahead of the national airline’s formal handover, news agency PTI reported.

In October last year, the Centre had signed a share purchase agreement with the Tata Group for the sale of national carrier Air India for Rs 18,000 crore.

As per the updates, the Tata Group will take full control of the airline later in the day. The cash component of the deal would come once the official handover process is completed.

As per the latest updates, the Tata Group would pay Rs 2,700 crore cash and take over Rs 15,300 crore of the airline’s debt and the agreement also includes sale of Air India Express and ground handling arm AISATS.

The deal was supposed to be completed by December 2021, but the deadline was later extended till January 2022 due to longer-than-expected time taken to complete procedural work.

Notably, Air India will return to the Tata Group nearly after 69 years. The Tata Group had established Air India as Tata Airlines in October 1932 and later in 1953, the Central nationalised the airline.

In the meantime, two airline pilot unions – Indian Pilots’ Guild (IPG) and Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association (ICPA) – on Monday warned Air India’s CMD Vikram Dev Dutt of legal action as “multiple deductions and recoveries have been projected” on the dues owed to pilots.

“This recovery exercise is entirely illegal, and we demand that this anomaly is rectified and the amount due is repaid with immediate effect,” the letter sent by the two unions said.

Additionally, two other unions have opposed the carrier’s January 20 order to check grooming and measure the body mass index (BMI) of cabin crew members at the airports just before their flights.

These unions – Air India Employees’ Union (AIEU) and All India Cabin Crew Association (AICCA) – on Monday wrote to Dutt opposing the order on the grounds that it is dehumanising and in violation of rules prescribed by aviation regulator DGCA.

While this will be the Centre’s first privatisation since 2003-04, Air India will be the third airline brand in the Tatas’ stable as it holds a majority interest in AirAsia India and Vistara, a joint venture with Singapore Airlines Ltd.