 "Will walk alongside Air India: IndiGo MD Bhatia pays tribute to Tata")
Paying tribute to late Ratan Tata, InterGlobe Enterprises Group Managing Director Rahul Bhatia on Thursday said IndiGo will walk alongside Air India to secure the country's rightful seat at the centre stage of global aviation.
"As we all know, Mr. Tata had a deep passion for flying machines, and I was only too pleased to see Air India return to where it truly belonged," Bhatia said in a statement.
Tata, who was the Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons, passed away on Wednesday night.
"While I am much too small a man to say this, in tribute to Mr Tata's love for flight and his vision for the future of Indian Aviation, IndiGo will, ever so modestly, walk alongside Air India to secure India's rightful seat at the centre stage of global aviation," Bhatia said.
InterGlobe Enterprises is the parent of the country's largest airline IndiGo.
Bhatia also recalled that he had the occasion to engage with Tata and that was when he returned from college in 1985.
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According to Bhatia, they discussed the opportunity of a three-way collaboration on manufacturing digital telephone switches (exchanges) between the TATA Group, Nortel (then known as Northern Telecom) and the earlier avatar of InterGlobe.
"While the initiative didn't come to fruition, Mr Tata's refreshing openness and disarming humility left an indelible impression on me," he added.
Further, Bhatia said that at this very difficult moment, his thoughts are with the Tata family and the employees of the Tata Group.