TravTalk India Online Magazine
Campbell Wilson, CEO & MD, Air India, shares how the Air India brand will continue its legacy as a full-service carrier after merger with Vistara, while AirAsia India and Air India Express will be merged to make a low-cost product.
Nisha Verma
Claiming that Air India has embarked on the greatest transformation in aviation history, Campbell Wilson, CEO & MD, Air India, said, “We have formed Vihaan.AI, which is a five-year transformation program split into three phases covering many streams, so that we can tackle this business and this challenge comprehensively. What we have been working in the past 12 months has been foundational and there has been a lot of investment in Air India, in terms of people, process, systems and a lot of this requires strengthening and improving, so that the aspirations that we have can be realised.”
Recruitment and refurbishment
He added, “We have recruited more than 1200 professionals to our ground staff cohort to fill in a gap left by about 15 years of non-hiring. We have invested in classrooms even as simple as Microsoft Outlook and office so that people have the tools that they need to collaborate and be productive. We’ve gone all the way through to a new IT platform for our restoration system, our website and our app, replacing carpets, cushions on board our existing fleet, restoring seats and inflight entertainment and even aircraft to airworthy capability. Twenty aircraft are being restored to service over the year to date and leasing in additional aircraft so that we can accelerate our transformation, both in terms of capacity in product and network. We have announced new routes. Our capacity has been increased by 80 per cent and we have done a number of things to invest in the future.”
Technology is future
Campbell insisted that they have focused a lot on IT. “We have invested, nearly $200 million over the last year and this coming year in improving the platforms, and in reliability and product. In terms of product, we have invested $400 million in refurbishing, the interior of our wide body aircraft. The first of these aircraft should enter service in the middle of next year,” he elaborated.
Strengthening staff
What allowed them to do this, according to Campbell is ramping up the staff significantly. “Apart from the 1,200 staff that we’ve recruited into our ground-based positions, there are 300 staff that we have recruited and deployed at our main airports in India and around the world, as well as nearly 2,000 cabin crew and several pilots. Clearly recruitment of staff is going to be a key to the capacity and fleet injection that we’re undertaking. Thus, we are setting up a training academy in partnership with others, so that we can produce our own talent for not just Air India, but also for the Indian aviation ecosystem.”
Way forward
As per other initiatives, Wilson said, “We are introducing new practices with respect to performance management, incentivisation and training. I must commend our existing Air India staff who have truly embraced this transformation, the cultural change and are really contributing very significantly to the new Air India. We really want to make the Air India group into a significant player internationally, as well as domestically. However, we also see significant opportunities in the international long haul segment, with the manifold jump in the capacity.” He further said that the Tata Group will have two airlines — a full service carrier and a low-cost carrier. Vistara will be merged with Air India to become a full service carrier and Air Asia India and Air India Express will be the low-cost product.
AirAsia-AI Express merger
Speaking on the AirAsia India and Air India Express merger, he said, “Over the past few months, we have taken full ownership and commenced the process of integrating AirAsia India with Air India Express to create one significant low-cost airline within the group. As very complementary businesses, Air India Express serves short haul international routes whereas AirAsia serves domestic routes.”
Air India-Vistara
He further explained, “The other integration that we’re pursuing is the one with Vistara that is the subject to regulatory approval as well. The planning work is well underway, and when the integration is approved by the regulator, we can quickly merge two airlines together and ultimately, use Vistara’s capabilities to accelerate and improve the transformation of Air India itself. The integration is now awaiting approval from the Competition Commission of India.”
Fleet order
On 14 February 2023, Air India announced placing of an order for 470 planes; 250 are from Airbus and 220 from Boeing. Wilson added that with the significant fleet order that they have made with the other aircraft that they are leasing in, the opportunity for Air India, but also India is quite unprecedented. He said the list price of a record 470 aircraft, ordered from Boeing and Airbus a few days back, is $70 billion.
The Maharaja
When asked about the Maharajah, the famous mascot of Air India, he said the airline plans to retain it but in what capacity is still unclear.
