Air India ‘confident’ of profitability, eyes near-term fleet expansion

Air India is “confident” it will turn profitable through its business transformation efforts, as it looks to significantly expand its operating fleet in the near term. Airline chief Campbell Wilson, who was speaking at a virtual media roundtable on 28 February, says the airline has identified several “low-hanging fruits” for cost efficiency and revenue volume in the “road to profitability”. “There’s a lot of work that needs to be done to realise this, through the investment in aircraft, in things like pricing [and] revenue management systems,” says Wilson. His comments come as the airline – privatised in early 2022 under new owners Tata Group – makes progress through its five-year business transformation plan, known as Vihaan.AI. On profitability, Campbell says the airline has an internal timeframe and that it is “very happy with the progress made”. Pressed further about whether the airline hopes to be profitable by the end of the five-year Vihaan.AI plan, Campbell declines to comment. “We are a private business and those are private details,” he says. The virtual event is Campbell’s first media engagement since the airline inked a historic 470-aircraft deal with Airbus and Boeing. While he did not indicate how deliveries of these aircraft will pan out, he says the airline is looking to triple the number of aircraft it has “over the next few years”. Air India has over 100 aircraft in operation currently, and has recently signed a series of fresh leases for used aircraft, including Airbus A320neos and Boeing 777s, on top of its 470-aircraft order. <br/>