Much more needs to be done to transform Air India: CEO Campbell Wilson

Air India managing director and chief executive officer Campbell Wilson says Air India has covered a lot of ground in the period since privatisation while acknowledging there’s much more to be done.

January 2025 marks the third year of Air India’s return to the Tata Group.

Air India’s transformation covers every aspect of its business, and involves significant upgradation of systems, processes, infrastructure, equipment, and people. While the journey still has a way to go, some significant milestones have been achieved, Wilson says in a statement.

“More than 100 new aircraft have been deployed, including India’s first Airbus A350 aircraft now flying from Delhi to London and New York. These are part of the one-third of our twin-aisle fleet that now sport modernised interiors and entertainment systems, with the remainder of the fleet progressively undergoing similar upgradation over the next two years,” says Wilson.

Interior refit of the single-aisle fleet, serving domestic and short-haul international destinations, is already well underway, and will be complete by mid-2025, he says.

The merger of the four Tata airlines into one full-service airline, Air India, and one low-cost carrier, Air India Express, was completed in late 2024, and the erstwhile Vistara aircraft are now deployed on metro-to-metro domestic routes and to key international destinations such as Frankfurt and Singapore to ensure a “consistently high-quality experience.”

These mergers and new aircraft deliveries have taken our Group fleet to 300 aircraft, allowing us to now expand our reach to over 100 destinations in India and around the world, the Air India CEO says.

“Air India’s global coverage will further increase in the years ahead, not least because of the recent addition of 100 aircraft to our orderbook, augmenting the earlier commitment for 470 made in 2023,” says Wilson. These new aircraft will be supported by a 12-bay maintenance facility and maintenance training school in Bengaluru, a new 34-aircraft flight school in Amravati, and the training academy in Gurugram.

“More than 9,000 new Air Indians have come aboard and, together with their colleagues, have undergone completely redesigned service training programmes at Air India’s newly-opened training facility in Gurugram which, at 800,000 square feet, is South Asia’s largest,” says Wilson.

“Multiple customer-facing initiatives have been deployed, including upgraded inflight catering, new amenities, and the rollout of streaming entertainment on all aircraft. Our frequent flyer programme, renamed Maharaja Club, has been completely revamped and now serves over 10 million members, while our industry-first generative AI chatbot AI.g has garnered global awards. A new lounge for travellers in premium classes has opened at Bengaluru and will soon be followed by another in Delhi during 2025, and in other key cities in time to come,” the Tata Group-owned airline’s MD says.

Air India on Wednesday rolled out Wi-Fi internet connectivity services on board domestic and international flights operated by Airbus A350, Boeing 787-9 and select Airbus A321neo aircraft. This makes Air India the first to offer in-flight Wi-Fi internet connectivity on flights within India, enabling travellers to stay connected to the internet during their flights.