FILE PHOTO: An Air India Airbus A350 aeroplane
| Photo Credit:
Air India Ltd. is close to securing ₹100 billion ($1.1 billion) in financial aid from its owners Tata Sons Pvt. and Singapore Airlines Ltd., according to people familiar with the matter, as the carrier grapples with the fallout from a turbulent year.The money is conditional on reaching certain performance milestones and will be paid out in instalments, said the people, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. The support would be proportional to shareholding, the people said, with Tata Sons owning 74.9% of Air India and Singapore Airlines the remainder.Air India, Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.The carrier is coming off a difficult period marked by the deadly crash of a Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner, the closing of Pakistani airspace to Indian carriers, and the West Asia conflict that’s disrupted travel and driven up fuel costs. Air India reported a record loss of ₹220 billion in its fiscal year through March.The Times of India reported the news earlier Thursday. Air India was seeking at least ₹100 billion in aid from its owners, people familiar had said last year.Chief Executive Officer-designate Tewolde Gebremariam, who officially joins the carrier later this month, seeks to bolster Air India’s cargo business and curb plane maintenance problems.Fallout from the 787 Dreamliner accident took months to contain, draining management bandwidth, adding to costs and dealing a blow to the airline’s public image.Noel Tata, the chairman of Tata Trusts that controls Tata Sons, has raised concerns over the losses at Air India in several board meetings, Reuters reported last month.Still, Tata Sons, the group’s holding company with a majority stake in Air India, and Temasek, Singapore Airlines’s majority owner, have separately announced that they will continue backing the airline.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comPublished on September 3, 2026
