Amid growing concern in Singapore that whether Singapore Airlines (SIA) should provide additional funds to loss making Air India, Singapore Airlines on Thursday said its board will carefully consider any request from the Indian carrier for additional capital, weighing the Indian carrier’s business strategy against the group’s own capital requirements.
The comments come amid reports that Air India is seeking an additional $1.5 billion (over Rs 14,000 crore) from its co-owners, Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines to support its aggressive transformational programme.
The funding request had triggered concerns in Singapore, with Member of Parliament Kenneth Tiong Boon Kiat questioning whether SIA should provide more funds to the Indian carrier. Singapore Airlines is majority-owned by the Singapore government through Temasek Holdings.
“SIA's board will carefully consider any requests for additional capital from Air India, taking into consideration the Group's other capital requirements and Air India's business strategy,” said a SIA spokesperson. The spokesperson told PTI that Singapore Airlines Group follows a disciplined capital allocation process that takes into account its operating cash flow, investment requirements for new aircraft and products, as well as multi-hub investments such as Air India, with the aim of supporting sustainable long-term growth and returns.
In July, SIA had said that it will carefully consider any requests for additional capital from Air India while taking into consideration the Group’s other capital requirements and Air India’s business strategy. SIA, which holds 25.1% stake in Air India, described its investment in the loss-making airline as a cornerstone of its multi-hub strategy. Tata Sons owns the remaining 74.9% stake.
SIA’s annual financial statement showed that Air India's losses stood at about $2.8 billion in FY26, its biggest annual loss since the airline was taken over by the Tata Group in 2022. Singapore Airlines Group's net profit fell 57% to SGD 1.184 billion (nearly Rs 8,900 crore) in FY26, mainly due to the absence of a one-off accounting gain related to the Vistara merger in the previous year and losses from Air India.
Singapore MP Kenneth Tiong Boon Kiat raised concerns over future investment in Air India this week. He also cited Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran's comments that Air India's turnaround could take five to ten years.
“That same chairman steps down in February, after disagreements the report links partly to Air India's losses. SIA went into the red last quarter despite record revenue…No one, least of all Singaporeans, owes Air India a living. I will not support, nor expect, any future use of Temasek's funds to prop up Air India via Singapore Airlines. If Singapore Airlines wants to continue its bet on Air India, it should do so on its own two feet, and not on Temasek's,” he said.
Earlier this month, Chandrasekaran announced that he would step down as Tata Sons Chairman when his current term ends in February 2027. He is also the Chairman of Air India.
Tiong added that he has also filed a question on this subject for an oral answer from Singapore's Minister of Transport. The question is scheduled to be taken up during Parliament's sitting on September 8.
Air India is yet to comment on the reported funding requirement or the concerns raised by the Singapore parliamentarian. Hit by a steep rise in ATF prices and airspace closures, Air India incurred heavy losses last fiscal. The airline has also come under high scrutiny following a crash in Ahmadabad last year that killed 260 people.
The airline recently announced appointing former Ethiopian Airlines Group chief Tewolde Gebremariam as its next CEO and Managing Director.
