This story belongs to the Fortune India Magazine July 2025 issue.
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On May 7, 1949, after flying Air India, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wrote to J.R.D. Tata congratulating him for “raising the prestige of India abroad”. “The more experience I have of it, the better I like it,” he wrote. Nearly eight decades later, the airline—once J.R.D. Tata’s pride—is facing a massive crisis.