To bolster its position in the global market, Air India has introduced nonstop international flights. One can easily book flight tickets to USA and Europe as Air India is ready to transform itself into a “world-class” airline to compete with strong airlines like Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian carriers.
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Air India on Their International Expansion
The Tata Group bought Air India in January 2022 and announced many new international routes. The airlines offered services in seven European cities with 79 weekly nonstop flights in November. By February it services 47 nonstop flights to the U.S. Their say on this:
“India has not been well-served by nonstop operations,”
“So given the many advantages of flying nonstop in terms of time and convenience … the fact that nonstop service stimulates further demand, we think there is sufficient [demand] to support our ambitions.”
“A sizable number of the narrow bodies will also be operating international,” Wilson said. “They have a range, depending on the variant, of up to six hours or so and can serve much of Southeast Asia, much of the Gulf and even into Europe.”
- Air India CEO Campbell Wilson said at a Virtual Press Conference
How Air India has Decided to Expand Itself in Coming Years?
As per India’s civil aviation regulator, up about 90% from 2021 and nine months to September, over 32.6 million passengers have traveled to and fro from India.
In February 2023, Tata Group-owned – Air India ordered a staggering 470 aircraft including Airbus and Boeing at a price of $70 Billion. This has single-aisle aircraft along with 70 wide-body variants. They restored 20 aircraft out of 36 leased after a period of non-maintenance. They have used a mix of internal cash and equity, sale, and leaseback deals to raise finance for this deal.
Air India has struggled to maintain a positive reputation due to poor service. Changes were made to the current operational know-how by hiring hundreds of new pilots, thousands of cabin crew and ground staff along with technology professionals. They have invested $400 million to refurbish the interiors of their wide-body fleet. This covers in-flight entertainment systems and seats.
With a plan to increase its share to 30% from 26% in the domestic market competing with Indigo with a 55% market share in 2021, the decision to merge has been a great step. They are also widely focused on “long haul” international routes.
Turning these airlines into profitable aviation businesses is the key. Going by the figures of March 2022,
- Air India even though increased by 63.6% (198.1 billion INR ($2.39 billion), they faced a loss of 6.2% to 95.56 billion INR.
- Air Asia India’s lost 42% to 21.78 billion INR
- Vistara’s lost 35% to 20.31 billion INR
The way is long and is too early to decide whether the business will be profitable or not. Campbel is confident that they’ll be successful in terms of quality, scale, and financial returns in near future. They are strongly working towards it and investing in technology for results.
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