NEW DELHI: Passengers flying Air India will soon get the much-awaited decent cabin product as the back-in-Tata-fold airline will refurbish its entire wide body fleet in 2024 apart from inducting new aircraft starting this year. Six Airbus A350s (that were meant for Aeroflot but due to sanctions can’t be delivered to Russia) will join AI fleet this year.
Five ex-Delta Boeing 777s have begun flying on North America routes. A $400-million cabin refurbishment programme for the existing wide body fleet — where passenger current pain points like seats, carpets and inflight entertainment (IFE) systems will be changed — has been launched and will be implemented next year. Premium class IFEs are now almost all functional and a massive longhaul network expansion is on the cards, especially in North America and Europe.
On their part, flyers will also do well to behave themselves as the Maharaja has now got strict with unruly passengers and is reporting all such cases for action after the recent infamous urination incidents where it was blamed by the aviation regulator for not taking the required action and even trying to hush up the cases. “Almost everyday we see instances where inebriated passengers misbehave. Very often people come on board after having a few drinks and some consume their own alcohol bought from duty free onboard. The crew faces their ire in the form of threats and even assaults when they refuse to serve more liquor to such passengers. We are reporting all such cases now,” AI MD-CEO Campbell Wilson said on Monday.
He spoke to the media for the first time after the Tatas placed a record firm order for 470 aircraft along with an option for 370 more. Such a large induction requires preparations on all front — from financial to personnel. The Tatas had last January taken over AI and AI Express — with the two airlines not seeing any investment on cabin product or fresh hiring in their last few penurious years as state-owned airlines.
Since 2022, over 20 planes that had been grounded for years are back in the air and capacity has increased by 78%, says Wilson. A mismatch in the number of planes in service and crew available is often seeing long haul flights getting cancelled. Then the airline has rolled out a voluntary retirement scheme opted for by 1,500 employees — 43% of eligible staff — which added to the shortage. Clearly, seamlessly inducting hundreds of planes would require massive preparations to avoid the crunch being witnessed currently.
“There has been learning along the way. We are hiring 500 cabin crew every month and have a strong pipeline of personnel. A crew academy is in the works that will train personnel not just for AI but other airlines too,” Wilson said. AI will also hire expat crew members to expedite growth and try to attract the sizeable number of Indian pilots and cabin crew working in foreign airlines — especially in the Gulf.
Delivery of the 470 firm order of aircraft — valued at $70 billion at list price — will begin this year with six A350s and continue till the end of this decade. “We will finance this order though a several modes. There will be equity, sale and lease back and other financing options.” In some years, AI will need to take a call on converting the option for 370 more planes into firm orders as it will retire its old Airbus A320s and Boeing-777 200 long range in the next four to five years.
“The process for merging budget Air India Express with erstwhile AirAsia India is on which should be completed in a few months. Soon after that, subject to regulatory approvals, we will merge Vistara into AI. Key features of Vistara, which established itself as a premium airline in past few years, will be retained in AI,” Wilson said. The PSU work culture is being corporatised to put a premium on performance.
While Bobby Kooka’s loveable Maharaja will remain, Tatas have also hired global brand transformation company FutureBrand to finalise the look and feel of the new Air India. “Maharaja is one of the many strong assets we will like to retain. The new image of AI must reflect the image of new India to appeal to all (beyond Indians and the huge Indian Diaspora across the world),” he said.
Five ex-Delta Boeing 777s have begun flying on North America routes. A $400-million cabin refurbishment programme for the existing wide body fleet — where passenger current pain points like seats, carpets and inflight entertainment (IFE) systems will be changed — has been launched and will be implemented next year. Premium class IFEs are now almost all functional and a massive longhaul network expansion is on the cards, especially in North America and Europe.
On their part, flyers will also do well to behave themselves as the Maharaja has now got strict with unruly passengers and is reporting all such cases for action after the recent infamous urination incidents where it was blamed by the aviation regulator for not taking the required action and even trying to hush up the cases. “Almost everyday we see instances where inebriated passengers misbehave. Very often people come on board after having a few drinks and some consume their own alcohol bought from duty free onboard. The crew faces their ire in the form of threats and even assaults when they refuse to serve more liquor to such passengers. We are reporting all such cases now,” AI MD-CEO Campbell Wilson said on Monday.
He spoke to the media for the first time after the Tatas placed a record firm order for 470 aircraft along with an option for 370 more. Such a large induction requires preparations on all front — from financial to personnel. The Tatas had last January taken over AI and AI Express — with the two airlines not seeing any investment on cabin product or fresh hiring in their last few penurious years as state-owned airlines.
Since 2022, over 20 planes that had been grounded for years are back in the air and capacity has increased by 78%, says Wilson. A mismatch in the number of planes in service and crew available is often seeing long haul flights getting cancelled. Then the airline has rolled out a voluntary retirement scheme opted for by 1,500 employees — 43% of eligible staff — which added to the shortage. Clearly, seamlessly inducting hundreds of planes would require massive preparations to avoid the crunch being witnessed currently.
“There has been learning along the way. We are hiring 500 cabin crew every month and have a strong pipeline of personnel. A crew academy is in the works that will train personnel not just for AI but other airlines too,” Wilson said. AI will also hire expat crew members to expedite growth and try to attract the sizeable number of Indian pilots and cabin crew working in foreign airlines — especially in the Gulf.
Delivery of the 470 firm order of aircraft — valued at $70 billion at list price — will begin this year with six A350s and continue till the end of this decade. “We will finance this order though a several modes. There will be equity, sale and lease back and other financing options.” In some years, AI will need to take a call on converting the option for 370 more planes into firm orders as it will retire its old Airbus A320s and Boeing-777 200 long range in the next four to five years.
“The process for merging budget Air India Express with erstwhile AirAsia India is on which should be completed in a few months. Soon after that, subject to regulatory approvals, we will merge Vistara into AI. Key features of Vistara, which established itself as a premium airline in past few years, will be retained in AI,” Wilson said. The PSU work culture is being corporatised to put a premium on performance.
While Bobby Kooka’s loveable Maharaja will remain, Tatas have also hired global brand transformation company FutureBrand to finalise the look and feel of the new Air India. “Maharaja is one of the many strong assets we will like to retain. The new image of AI must reflect the image of new India to appeal to all (beyond Indians and the huge Indian Diaspora across the world),” he said.