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No plans to enter aviation biz: Tata
Published on Sun, May 06, 2007 at 23:58, Updated on Tue, Jun 19, 2007 at 13:38 in 
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HAPPILY GROUNDED: Though Ratan Tata loves to fly an F-16, he has no plans of foraying into the avaiation business.
New Delhi: India’s largest private sector group Tata has ruled out any immediate plans of foraying into the aviation sector. While most of the aviation companies are reaping profits even in their low-cost carriers’ business, Tata Group seems to have learnt a lesson from the past.
After a failed attempt into the aviation business in the mid-1990s, the Tata Group decided not to invest into airlines business. "We have no plans at present to enter the aviation business. However, this does not mean that we won’t relook at the business in the future," a top Tata Group official told PTI.
The Tata Group had announced its plans for the domestic airline business in the late-1990s in collaboration with Singapore Airlines but abandoned it following failure to obtain regulatory approvals.
"The market conditions then and those prevailing now are different. While I don`t rule out entering the business in the future, I can tell you that we are not looking at the business now," Tata Sons` Executive Director, R Gopalakrishnan was quoted by PTI.
The Tata Group has a long and distinguished connection with Indian aviation with its former chairman, the late J R D Tata`s love for flying and association with Air India, being a case in point.
Similarly, Rata Tata, the present Chairman, has never hid his love of flying. Recently, he co-piloted a fighter aircraft during the Bangalore air-show.
Speculation about the leading corporate entity entering the aviation business keeps cropping up often and most recently did so a few months back, when the Tata Group took a stake in low-cost carrier SpiceJet.
It was then speculated that the Ratan Tata-led group was planning to enter the business piggy-backing on SpiceJet.
Dismissing the notion, Gopalakrisnan described the investment in the Delhi-based air-carrier as "purely a financial investment and nothing to do with us entering the business."
With inputs from PTI
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