Air India, Riyadh Air bosses look to win traffic from overseas hubs

The CEs of Air India and Riyadh Air have underlined their determination to take international long-haul traffic from big overseas hubs. Speaking at the Aviation Festival Asia event in Singapore, Air India’s Campbell Wilson and Riyadh Air’s Tony Douglas point out that a substantial amount of international traffic from India and Saudi Arabia flows through big hubs overseas. Wilson observes that for the Air India group’s international business to be successful, it is not necessary to grow the market significantly. “There is a huge volume of traffic to and from India but it’s not going non-stop,” says Wilson. “We only need to shift a couple of percentage points of that and we’re in a very good position.” He adds that for the time being “the cream” of India’s international traffic flows through overseas hubs, but that as Air India continues to improve its value proposition, it hopes to secure more traffic for its extensive non-stop, long-haul network. Indian officials have long bemoaned the “leakage” of international traffic to well-run hubs such as Abu Dhabi, Doha, Dubai, and Singapore – all of which are home to large and efficient international carriers. On the pending merger of Air India and Vistara, Wilson says that Singapore has yet to approve the transaction, but that this is expected “reasonably soon.” The merger also requires legal approval in India. Wilson is overseeing the restructuring of the Tata Group’s airline holdings. This will see Air India merged with Vistara, and Air India Express merged with AIX Connect, formerly AirAsia India. The merger had been expected to be completed by March 2024.<br/>