As N. Chandrasekaran prepares to step down as Tata Sons chairman in 2027, the airline’s costly recovery and governance complexities threaten to reshape the group’s ambitious aviation plans amid mounting losses and technical challenges.
N. Chandrasekaran’s planned departure as chairman of Tata Sons in February 2027 arrives at a sensitive moment for India’s biggest conglomerate, with Air India still at the centre of the group’s most expensive turnaround effort. The leadership change comes as Tata weighs a possible listing of its holding company, navigates geopolitical uncertainty and deals with losses in several businesses, according to reports from The Hindu and Tata’s annual results.
The airline has become the clearest test of Tata’s appetite for long-term investment. Since the group bought Air India in 2022, Chandrasekaran has overseen a major overhaul, including the merger of Air India and Vistara. But the Financial Year 2026 results show how costly that effort remains: Air India and Air India Express together reported a combined loss of ₹22,238 crore, more than double the previous year’s deficit of ₹10,859 crore, according to industry reports and Tata Sons’ results.
In his comments alongside the annual report, Chandrasekaran said the carrier’s recovery should be measured in years rather than quarters, with one report quoting him as saying the turnaround could take five to 10 years. That is a notable warning for investors and Tata Trusts, which have raised concerns about the scale of spending and the pace of capital deployment across the group’s aviation ambitions.
The pressure on Air India is not only financial. India’s government said on August 3 that 352 significant technical defects were reported across domestic and international operations in the year through June, including 46 involving Air India and 53 at Air India Express. Those figures add another layer of scrutiny just as the carrier is trying to modernise its fleet, upgrade technology and rebuild its reputation for reliability. Tata Sons has reportedly committed almost $400 million to that effort.
The leadership transition at the top of Tata Sons will also coincide with changes at Air India itself, making the next phase of the airline’s revival more complex. The Sir Dorabji Tata Trust has accepted Chandrasekaran’s resignation and begun the search for a successor, but governance complications remain because the Sir Ratan Tata Trust is currently restricted from convening trustee meetings or taking key decisions. Under Tata Sons’ articles, both trusts are involved in selecting the next chairman, which means the succession process could shape not just the group’s leadership, but the future direction of one of its most closely watched bets.
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