To tow the exponential growth of the sectoraviation in the next years (2,3 million hires expected with Boeing and Airbus planning to build more than 80 thousand new planes) there is one of the emerging countries at the forefront:India.
"We buy a plane every 6 days, there is no better time for the flight sector" says the CEO of Air India, Campbell Wilson in an interview with Sun-24 Hours. And also the domestic air traffic rewards the country by exceeding pre-pandemic levels and reaching a new record of 152 million passengers, an increase of 8,34%.
Air India's ambitions
Air India has launched a ambitious redevelopment project of its aircraft fleet, investing $400 million to upgrade its 43 long-range aircraft. This project adds up to a massive one order of 470 new aircraft, of which 190 Boeing 737MAX, 20 Boeing 787, 10 Boeing 777X, 210 Airbus A320neo and 40 Airbus A350 for a worth 70 billion dollars at list prices (the second largest order in the history of civil aviation).
“By May, a third of our wide-body fleet will be the latest generation. From August the old fleet will be updated and by the beginning of 2026 we will have 70 modern wide-bodies. Thanks to the order for 470 aircraft placed less than a year ago we will receive a new plane every six days until the end of the year” explains Wilson.
The company, privatised in 2022 (it is owned by the Tata Group), thus aims to consolidate its position in the global skies for the next 50 years. The renovation includes every aspect of the company, including a rebranding with new logo and livery. All to try to overcome the "bad reputation" accumulated over the years.
“There are several people who are convinced that the acquisition of Air India by the Tata Group could transform a company overnight with more than 100 aircraft, 200 if we count the whole group. But you can't do so many upgrades in a short time without stopping operations" - Wilson tells the Sun - "We are trying to do it as quickly as possible but there is a mismatch to overcome".
Consolidation strategy also underway
In the revival plan, Air India is implementing a consolidation strategy which includes the fusion of low-cost Air India Express with the previous AirAsia India. Subsequently, it is planned tomerger of Air India with Vistara.
Wilson explained that “we have two former state-owned companies with long histories and two relatively young private companies with the influence of other shareholders such as AirAsia and Singapore Airlines.” The two state-owned airlines, Air India and Air India Express, except cabin crew, have not hired new staff for 15 years and have significant gaps in capacity, staffing and systems. “Bringing these four companies into two is a challenge” but – according to Wilson – it could be the best time to do it, addressing and solving some key problems.
The decade of the Indian airline industry is upon us
Campbell Wilson believes we are entering the decade of the Indian airline industry, highlighting the vast opportunities present in the country: “Just look at the opportunities. The population, economic growth, the emergence of the middle class, the shift in supply chains, infrastructure investments, the phase of consolidation and professionalization of our sector".
And onartificial intelligence Wilson predicts that will be an important part of Air India's future: “Airlines generate a large amount of data on performance efficiency, component wear and other aspects of the aircraft. Then there are revenue management systems and booking data, including rates and forecasts of future cancellations and new bookings. All this lends itself to IT optimization through machine learning algorithm or, ultimately, artificial intelligence. It will be both fundamental to our organization of the future. "
