Air India aims to move rapidly to recover “its rightful place” among “the world’s foremost carriers” following its takeover by the giant Tata Group 14 months ago.
That is according to new chief executive Campbell Wilson who was in London as the former state-owned carrier prepared to expand its operation from the UK at the end of March, including launching its first flights from Gatwick.
Wilson has overseen a rapid turnaround since joining Air India from Singapore Airlines last June.
He said: “The pace of change has been extraordinary. It has taken off like a rocket.
“Usually, you need to convince people of the need for change. At Air India, it wasn’t necessary. There was a hunger for change and a desire to bring the airline back to its former glory.”
He sees the combination of Tata’s investment, India’s geographical position, the country’s huge population and growing economy and its worldwide diaspora presenting huge opportunities for expansion – not just of traffic to, from and within India, but as a rival to the Gulf carriers in connecting Europe with Asia.
Wilson noted: “We already carry a huge amount of traffic to the Gulf. Historically, Air India focussed more on leisure and VFR [visiting friends and relations] traffic. We want to do that and more, increasing the focus on connecting traffic.”
His first priorities were to restore Air India’s fleet to service, fix its on-time performance and pay one million outstanding refunds.
By the autumn, Wilson said: “For the first time in a long time, Air India was rated number one for on-time performance in India. It’s still a work in progress, but our domestic market share is now 24%, up from less than 10%.”
The airline’s reservations system was replaced in nine months. Its systems migrated to the cloud inside six months.
In February, Air India placed orders for 470 new aircraft, with the first to be delivered this year. But in the meantime, it has leased 36 aircraft and committed $400 million to refit its existing widebody fleet of 30 aircraft.
Wilson said: “Tata can throw resources at this. In less than two years, one third of our widebody fleet will be new. By the third year it will, in effect, be an all new widebody fleet.”
He noted: “India has less than 50 widebody aircraft in total, all operated by Air India or Vistara [jointly owned by Air India and Singapore Airlines]. We have 70 coming. There is so much opportunity.
“What we’re operating now is just the beginning. The potential is huge just between the UK and India.”
But he added: “It all has to be done all at once. We have a five-year programme and 22 work streams.”
Air India had seen decades of under investment and a long, drawn-out privatisation process, which began in mid-2017, initially saw the Indian government attempt to retain a substantial stake. Only when it agreed a 100% sale did a deal go through with the Tata Group.
Wilson said: “Air India had recruited good people over the years, but in the last 15 years it hadn’t recruited anybody on the ground at all.”
Launch from Gatwick
The carrier launched its first flights from Gatwick and increased services from Heathrow to Delhi and Mumbai last week.
Air India has switched its UK services to Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Kochi and Goa from Heathrow to Gatwick, operating three times a week to each.
Gatwick flights to Ahmedabad and Amritsar launched on Sunday (March 26), Kochi services on Monday and flights to Goa on Tuesday, all operated by a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
At the same time, Air India used its freed-up slots at Heathrow to add five additional frequencies a week to Delhi and Mumbai from Sunday. Services to Delhi increased from 14 to 17 a week and to Mumbai from 12 to 14.
Wilson argued: “Our substantial investment in customer service and new aircraft will enable us to gain market share from the UK to India, as well as drive more business and leisure travellers to India.”
The carrier also operates from Birmingham, flying to Amritsar and Delhi three times a week each.