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A year as Tata’s Air India

Total operating aircraft increased by 27% to 100; The number of average daily flights increased by 30%.

A year since Air India came back to the Tata fold, the airline has made some significant gains. These include:

  • Year on Year Snapshot
    Total operating aircraft increased by 27% to 100
  • The number of average daily flights increased by 30%
  • Weekly international flights increased by 63%
  • 16 new international routes launched or announced. Frequency increased on 9 others
  • Average daily passenger uplift increased by 72%
  • Average daily revenue has doubled
  • Average daily frequency per domestic route has increased by 81%
  • Call centre manpower has been more than doubled, reducing average wait time by nearly 90%
  • On time performance has improved from 70% in Dec21 to an average of nearly 90%
  • A backlog of one million aged refunds reduced to zero, with new cases now turned around in short order.
  • Revamped its domestic in-flight menu with assortment of gourmet meals, appetisers, desserts and refreshing beverages to satiate taste buds. The airline will also shortly introduce an enhanced menu on its international routes
  • Launched the first phase of new customer interfaces including website, mobile application, as well as proactive customer notification systems
  • Added over 1,200 professionals across key functions to upgrade capabilities and to support growth
  • Commenced co-locating employees in a centralised location in National Capital Region, ahead of a new state of the art facility in Gurugram opening in mid-2023.
Looking Forward

Air India has a clearly well-defined roadmap under Vihaan.AI to transform itself over the next five years to being among the best globally with an Indian heart. Hundreds of initiatives across 22 broad workstreams are underway to transform the airline over three phases: Taxi, Take Off and Climb.

Included in these are some major initiatives:

  • 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
  • Announced merger with Vistara with the combined entity having a share-holding of Singapore Airlines*
  • Announced acquisition of AirAsia India and its merger with subsidiary Air India Express*
  • Finalising a historic order of new aircraft to power future growth
  • Establishing a dedicated Information Technology centre in Kochi
  • Establishing a world-class Training Academy
A year as Tata’s Air India – Mr. Campbell Wilson’s message to employees

“Happy Friday, folks… and Happy Anniversary, for today marks the first anniversary since Air India returned to Tata!

To every single one of you, on behalf of the entire management team I extend the deepest gratitude for the hard work you have put in over this past year. I would especially like to acknowledge our erstwhile Air Indians who have experienced probably the most significant period of change in your entire working lives, with all the trepidation, uncertainty and adjustment that this entailed.

And to all of you, whether “old” or “new”, I thank you for coming together behind this mission of national importance so quickly and constructively.

Together, we have embarked upon one of the most ambitious turnarounds in international aviation history. We have set out to create an airline that ranks amongst the best in the world, and will proudly represent the new India on the global stage. And we have made quite remarkable progress in a very short space of time, as the infographic below shows.

Even as we work on improving Air India, we have not shied away from other ambitious actions, such as merging Air India Express with Air Asia, or Vistara with Air India, or kicking off the establishment of a new InfoTech Centre, or an Aviation Academy. And that’s not to mention our much talked-about short- and-medium term fleet expansion.

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.

Transforming any organization entails deep cultural shifts, which is why we have put such a high priority on communicating with you, and on improving policies, practices and support systems, not just benefits. Fostering integrity, accountability, collaboration and trust are keys to future success, and must be guiding lights.

We will continue to communicate and roll out new things, being clear about the rising expectations we must all meet, how these relate to you and how we will support. Air India is on a journey to greater heights, and we want all of you to rise with it.

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.

Very few other brands had the privilege of being beloved by an entire nation. We will now, through our sustained hard work, do our utmost to deliver on our promise to be the best carrier India has ever seen, and as our founders envisioned. Together, with one eye on the horizon, we can and we shall.

Happy anniversary.

Campbell”

*Subject to regulatory and other approvals

Co-Founder & Managing Director - Travel Media Applications | + Articles

Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.

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