Tata news

The famous Ballroom at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower in Bombay opened its doors to guests once again on April 1, 2010, a year and four months after the infamous terrorist attacks of 26/11 left it battered and bruised in body and spirit. Completely destroyed in the firing and the fires, only its solid iron pillars dating back to the early 1900s had withstood destruction.

The renovated Ballroom has been redone in cream and gold, with original design and décor replicated. "We are excited about throwing open the doors of the legendary Ballroom again. It is a fitting beginning to a new chapter in the history of the Palace wing of the hotel,” Karambir Singh Kang, general manager who lost his wife and two young sons in the terrorist attacks along with dozens of Taj staffers and guests, was quoted in the DNA of March 30, 2010.

"We want to expand our fleet size and hence we are bringing in younger aircraft,” said Taj Air chairman Mehernosh Kapadia, speaking about the addition of the luxurious Dassault Falcon 2000LX jet and the fastest turbo-prop Piaggio P.180 Avanti II to the fleet. Taj Air, an air charter services company which the Tatas acquired from the Wadias, is also changing its business model from just providing aircraft on hire and operating an aircraft maintenance facility. "It has now tied up with Italy’s Piaggio Aero Industries to be its exclusive aircraft distributor for India and the neighboring region, right from Sri Lanka to Maldives,” reports The Times of India of March 5, 2010.