As Air India completes its first year under the Tata Group, the airline management has listed plans for the second year that includes a ‘historic’ order of new aircraft and investments to improve the product on its long-haul international flights.
The plans were listed out in a communication sent to employees by the airline’s CEO and MD Campbell Wilson, who also termed the achievements of the past year as ‘stunning’.
“Taken together, the progress over the last 12 months has been nothing short of stunning, even if so much of what we have been working on has been behind the scenes, building platforms and capabilities so that our future ambitions can take flight. There is of course much more that needs to be done, and everyone – internally and externally – is hungry for us to do it,” said Wilson.
He also said that Air India’s response to lapses should be different from others.
“As we step into year two of Air India 2.0, we acknowledge that in any project of scale, there will be challenges along the way. More than our successes, it is how we respond to our lapses -these that will define us,” the missive read.
This is notable since the airline had to deal with considerable negative publicity due to an incident where a drunk man allegedly urinated on a woman passenger on a New York-Delhi flight. The airline’s CEO as well as its chairman N Chandrasekaran – also the chairman of the Tata Group – came out in public on the incident.
As part of Air India’s plan to become an airline of choice in India as well as internationally, the airline is to invest US $400 million (Rs 3,300 crore) to refurbish its onboard product and put a historic order of 500 aircraft.
“Committed US $400 million to refurbish the interiors of its entire wide-body fleet including latest generation seats and best-in-class inflight entertainment across all cabin classes… Finalising a historic order of new aircraft to power future growth,” said the infographics attached with the letter.
During the first year of its acquisition, Air India has increased its operating aircraft by 27 per cent that led to a 30% increase in flight numbers that includes a 63% increase in weekly international flights.
The group has also announced plans to complete the merger of Air India Express with AirAsia India by this year and Vistara to merge with Air India by next year.
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