According to sources, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran is likely to be present on the occasion, to mark the change in ownership of India's government-owned flag carrier to the Tata Group.

Air India is likely to be officially handed over to the Tata group today, kicking off the process of the ownership changing hands.

According to sources, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran is likely to be present on the occasion, to mark the change in ownership of India's government-owned flag carrier to the Tata Group.

"The transfer will happen on Thursday and the process to transfer the airline will begin and the complete handover may happen over a period of time," sources told ET.

After a competitive bidding process, the government had on October 8 last year sold Air India to Talace Private Limited, a subsidiary of the Tata Group's holding company, for INR 18,000 crore - about INR 2,700 crore will be paid to the government and the rest will be Air India loans that the new entity will take.

Post the takeover, the new management will place an interim management to run the airline, which will constitute executives from AirAsia India, TCS and Tata Steel.

"AirAsia India executives will bring in aviation expertise, TCS will bring in IT expertise and Tata Steel's experience of handling unions will be used to handle HR issues at Air India," said another source on condition of anonymity.

After the handover, the Tata group is likely to operate three airlines - Air India, Air India Express and Vistara - after the government transfers the airline to the group and upon merger of AirAsia India and AI Express.

The group, for the time being, plans to continue with Vistara as a separate entity, as SIA is not on board for the AI deal. Vistara is a 51:49 joint venture between the Tata Group and SIA. SIA, however, had agreed to be part of the plan to acquire Air India but did not want to continue after Covid impacted their business and funds dried up.

As part of the revival plan, the Tata group is also blueprinting a 100-day plan for Air India to improve the operational and service standards of the airline that includes its on-time performance, as well as issues related to passenger complaints and call centres.