Air India chief hails ‘climb’ phase in carrier’s ‘national mission’ of revival

The CE of Air India has acclaimed the carrier’s progress in an ambitious turnaround under its Tata Group owner, while acknowledging the challenge of restoring the reputation of the former state-owned national carrier that Indians love to complain about. Campbell Wilson, the Singapore Airlines veteran hired after Tata bought Air India in a $2.4bn deal in 2022, is taking steps to transform the airline’s offering and expand and modernise its fleet as it looks to win back some of the customers who deserted it for Gulf or other foreign airlines. “There’s a blessing and a curse to being the national carrier,” the New Zealander told the Financial Times in an interview at Air India’s headquarters outside Delhi. “There is a lot of love and a lot of expectation, and there is a lot of commentary — for better or worse.” In India, he said, “it’s just a little more heightened because of the profile of India’s decline and the hopes and dreams of India’s rise”. Under the airline’s five-year transformation plan dubbed Vihaan (Sanskrit for “dawn of a new era”), Wilson has steered Air India through the “taxi” and “take-off” steps of the turnaround. By its own account it is now in the final, “climb” phase, merging its sprawling operations, driving profitability and enhancing customer value, and taking Indian aviation to the global stage.<br/>