JRD Tata and Air India, two names that hardly any Indian wouldn’t know of, share a unique connection and their story goes back to the year 1929, when the former earned the first commercial aviator’s certificate in India!
It was on February 10, 1929, that JRD ‘Jeh’ Tata, also the founder of Air India, earned the first commercial aviator’s certificate in India, fulfilling a dream that he had nurtured since he was 15.
Seems like giving the country its first airline (Tata Air Service which later became Air India) wasn’t enough for Tata, who also went on to pilot its inaugural flight!
3 years later in October 1932, Tata flew into the sky from Karachi in a Puss Moth, towards Bombay at a “dazzling 100 miles an hour”.
When taking on his job as the pilot, Tata was armed with just one small accessory – a pair of goggles. Tata Group shared this on their Twitter handle writing, “All he was armed with was a pair of goggles, his trusted slide rule that he always carried on flights, “a silent prayer”, and his little blue and gold aviator’s certificate that bore the Number 1.”
The story of Air India is definitely a fascinating one and just as life comes full circle, the airline too returned to its founders after years of ups and downs. On January 27, 2022, 69 years after being nationalised, Air India returned to its founder Tata Group, which won the bid to acquire the airline in October 2021. Tata Sons brokered a deal with the Centre for Rs 18,000 crore.
To buy Air India, Tata Sons were pitted against Spicejet promoter Ajay Singh-led consortium, which placed a bid of Rs 15,100 crore. However, after emerging as the winner, Tata Group’s chairman N Chandrasekaran called it a “historic moment” adding that they will strive to develop a world-class airline that makes every Indian proud.
