Will Ratan Tata rescue the Maharaja?

New Delhi, Jul 8: Avaition Minister Praful Patel is establishing an advisory panel comprising former heads of global airlines, to guide the turn around the national carrier, Air India (AI).

Patel on Tuesday, Jul 7 said, "The board will be headed by someone of the eminence of a luminary like Ratan Tata and will be set up within a month."

Top government sources said Tata Group chairman, Ratan Tata has already been approached to head this board. It is Ratan Tata's second homecoming at Air India as he was the non-executive chairman of AI's board in the Late 1980s.

Patel also said, "We are going to revamp the management and will issue global ads for a chief operating officer, who could be an expat, to assist the CMD."

"The international advisory board for AI would comprise former chiefs of major airlines and would set the turnaround path for AI. I am working on a complete rejig, he added.

The Air India was founded as Tata Airlines in 1932 by Ratan Tata"s predecessor J.R.D. Tata and renamed Air India in 1946. It was later nationalized in 1953.

OneIndia News