65 years later, Tatas about to revive JRD's aviation success

NEW DELHI: JRD Tata's ambitious dream to start the first Indian airline, which he turned into reality with utter passion, died a sarkari death when he was removed from the chairmanship of the airline in 1977, 25 years after it was nationalised by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1953. Today, the Tata group is on the verge to revive that dream. The group is in talks with Naresh Goyal-promoted Jet Airways to merge the airline into Vistara and buy out the promoters and shareholders. Vistara is operated by Tata SIA Airlines, a joint venture between Tatas and Singapore Airlines.

Acquisition of Jet will provide the Tatas the rights and assets that will help it expand Vistara into a far bigger airline and resuscitate JRD Tata's dream of a world-class Indian airline.

Jet has ordered 225 Boeing Max planes and 10 Boeing 787 dreamliners. They will add to Vistara's orders, leases and options of 50 A320s and A321s and 10 787 Dreamliners. Jet has daily 600 daily flights to 66 destinations while Vistara has just 112 flights to 22 destinations. Jet flew 30 million pasengers in FY18 while Vistara flew only 4.4 million. Jet has 20 codeshare partners while Vistara has only 3.

If the acquisition happens, the Tata group will help revive and shape up JRD Tata's ambitious aviation dream.

Flying was a passion with JRD Tata. He was the first person to qualify within India to fly, according to the company website. "He got his licence, which bore on it Number 1, on 10 February 1929. As an aviator and pioneer flier, he was the one who brought commercial aviation to India. JRD went on to establish Air-India International in 1948 and became the president of Inter-national Air Transport Association (IATA) within 10 years of its establishment. He remained at the helm of Air India till 1978, making it one of the most efficient airlines in the world," the website says.

Tata Aviation Services was formed in 1932. It was incorporated as Air India in 1948, and nationalised in 1953, when JRD became chairman.

In 1953, when the government nationalised Air India “through the back door”, as Tata himself put it, it was one of the best airlines in the world. A dream enterprise of Tata, he had built it bit by bit with personal care, down to the menu and curtains. Tata was devastated when he came to know about the decision of then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, a Fabian socialist averse to private enterprise. Tata wrote to Nehru: “I can only deplore that so vital a step should have been taken without giving us a proper hearing.” Tata accepted to become the nationalised airline’s chairman. Air India kept on doing well under him till he was removed in 1977 by then prime minister Morarji Desai.

When his Air India was nationalised, a disappointed Tata wrote to a company executive, “Even more than the decision itself, I was upset by the manner in which nationalisation was introduced through the back door without any prior consultation of any kind with the industry. However, we have to reconcile ourselves to the fact that we are living in a political and bureaucratic age in which people like ourselves no longer count for much in the scheme of things.”

The "political and bureaucratic age" Tata spoke of started declining in 1991 when India liberalised its economy, giving confidence to private enterprise. And just an year later, Jet Airways was born. After a quarter of a century, which saw many private enterprises rise and thrive and merge and die, Jet acquisition will mark that pre-1953 moment (the year Air India was nationalised) when a private entrepreneur could dream of an ambitious pioneering venture, turn it into a reality and then make it a success — without the threat of a socialist grab.