Air India was for many years state owned, synonymous with underinvestment, crippling losses and inefficiency.

Back in the fold of its first private owners, the airline on Tuesday announced plans to acquire a total of 470 planes (250 Airbus and 220 Boeing), making it one of the largest orders in the history of the airline. aviation.

This announcement comes a year after the takeover of the airline, founded in 1932 by the Franco-Indian industrialist JRD Tata who had experienced his nationalization, after independence, as the saddest day of his life.

He was not consoled for this loss.

In recent years, Air India has become a debt-ridden public entity, a far cry from its former image that earned it the nickname "Maharaja of the skies".

Since 2009, successive Indian governments have spent nearly $15 billion supporting it until Tata buys it out for $2.4 billion in 2022.

According to experts, the operation of Air India is also of symbolic importance for the group.

"Welcome back, Air India", welcomed the current president and patriarch of Tata, Ratan Tata, in 2022 after concluding the contract for the return of the company to its fold.

"A world-class brand"

According to Shakti Lumba, former COO of IndiGo, which long since replaced Air India as the country's largest domestic airline, the Tata Group "can build a world-class brand".

India, one of the world's fastest growing major economies, said in February it was investing in the development of around 100 airports across the country by 2024.

India's middle class is growing by millions every year, many airports are being expanded and several regions have just opened their first airports.

According to expert estimates, the Indian market will need at least 2,000 aircraft over the next 10 to 15 years and long-established Indian groups, such as Tata, will play an important role in meeting demand.

Passengers at the arrival terminal of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, India, on December 1, 2021 © Punit PARANJPE / AFP/Archives

“The magnitude of orders on Tuesday reflects the state of the Indian economy, its growth trajectory and the fact that more Indians will be traveling domestically and abroad over the next decade," Anas Rahman Junaid, founder of Bombay-based Hurun India, told AFP.

“In this context, it also makes sense for an Indian brand to be the global leader in aviation and Tata, with its experience of managing large organisations, has what it takes to take a local brand to the global level” , he added.

"Replacement" planes

Founded in 1868 by Jamsetji Tata, the group owns Jaguar Land Rover, software giant TCS, Tata steel and its subsidiaries comprise 29 publicly traded entities with diverse interests in chemicals, hospitality, steel, automotive and consumer goods.

It employs over 935,000 people.

The group has since worked to restructure the airline and reposition it as an Indian market leader and global player, hoping to capture 30% of the booming local market by 2027.

The merger of Air India with Vistara, a joint venture between Tata and Singapore Airlines, should make the Indian company the country's second in the domestic market behind IndiGo.

An Air India Boeing on the tarmac at Begumpet airport in Hyderabad, India, March 4, 2010 © Noah SEELAM / AFP/Archives

But Air India's expansion will not be without turbulence for the 154-year-old group, Mark Martin, CEO of Martin consulting, told AFP.

“They will need to recruit talent and reconnect with the warm Indian hospitality that made (Air India) one of the top five airlines in the world in the 1960s and 1970s,” Mr Martin added.

According to him, about half of the new planes will serve as a "replacement", within five to seven years, of the aging Air India fleet.

Air India's last purchases of new aircraft date back to 2006.

"We should not rejoice (the mega-order) as a great success, it's something they must do", recalls the expert.

© 2023 AFP