New Delhi:

Air India and the Centre are aligned on making India a civil aviation hub, like Dubai or Singapore, and that is a part of the corporate’s plan as properly, the airline’s Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Campbell Wilson has stated.

In an unique interview with NDTV, Mr Wilson spoke on a variety of points and stated he’s upbeat not simply concerning the route that the corporate goes in but in addition what the long run holds for Indian aviation. He additionally mentioned security, the airline’s new plane, the timeline for the Air India-Vistara merger, and the battle with IndiGo, which is the opposite behemoth in Indian aviation.

“No Effort Spared on Safety”

Being part of the federal government for a very long time has instilled a sure tradition in Air India and that’s a part of the explanation that the civil aviation regulator needed to take motion towards the service over issues of safety, Mr Wilson stated. He was answering a query on the current suspension of the airline’s Chief of Flight Safety for a month after an inspection discovered lapses within the service’s accident-prevention protocol.

“There’s a lot of reasons why Air India is what it is. It’s had a long history, background as part of the government. That’s imbued a certain culture. And we are spending a lot of time bringing in people, bringing in training, bringing in systems, bringing in consequence management, and really demonstrating what world-class standards are in a safety environment,” he unhappy

The MD emphasised that they’re actively “plugging into” exterior our bodies, just like the International Air Transport Association and the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines, to make sure that the airline deeply understands the requirements which might be required. 

“Promulgating them through an organisation that has been acting in a certain way for a long time takes time. And educating people and reinforcing that standards that might have been acceptable in the past are no longer acceptable now requires constant attention. We’re not sparing any effort in making this happen. It is disappointing that we have these episodes, but they have to be episodes that we learn from,” he stated. 

Aviation Hub

Speaking to NDTV earlier this month, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had stated that India couldn’t solely turn into an aviation hub like Dubai, Doha or Singapore within the subsequent 5 years or much less, however it might even have a number of hubs, starting with the Delhi airport, in numerous elements of the nation.

When Mr Wilson was requested for his ideas on this, and whether or not India might see folks flying into Delhi on their solution to different locations, versus doing so from Qatar or Dubai, Mr Wilson stated, “I think it’s not binary, you either don’t or you do. Air India already carries people from Europe into Delhi and they connect onwards to Asia or Australasia. As a proportion of our total traffic, it’s relatively small, but as we expand our frequency, as we improve our product, as the transit experience in Delhi improves, that will just get increasingly more. “

“So it all really is a hub. Now, will it become the mega hub of the likes of others? In terms of volume of people, absolutely yes. But the structure will change because India has such a huge point-to-point demand, whether from city or whether from country going to somewhere else,” he added.

The Air India MD identified that the worldwide part of India’s hub is nearly actually going to be smaller than it could be in a city-state, which does not have the supporting inhabitants that the nation enjoys. 

“But absolutely, we should have hubs, larger hubs in India. They can and, in my view, should be more than one. It is a key part of Air India’s future plan. And so we’re fully aligned,” he stated.

Merger With Vistara

Air India must get to the extent of Vistara, which was constructed on the newest know-how and had new plane, earlier than the merger of the airways can occur, Mr Wilson stated, including that the brand new service will most likely retain the ‘Air India’ identify, which comes with a 91-year heritage and is understood globally.

“We’ve said that the future airline will probably be called Air India. But we won’t be merging Vistara and Air India until such time that we feel that Air India has reached the level that Vistara is at. With Vistara as part of the family, there’s a lot we can learn from… I think part of the reason that Vistara has been successful is a very young airline that was built on latest technology, had new aircraft. And these are things that Air India will have in due course too,” the Air India MD stated. 

“So it’s inevitable, in my view, and we will not stop until Air India reaches at least Vistara’s level. At the same time, Air India carries the name ‘Air India’, which is known and beloved around the world. And it has 91 years of history and heritage and recognition. So I think logically, internationally, Air India is by far the better name to have,” he added.

IndiGo Battle

On IndiGo and the challenges of competing with a low-cost airline, which is now making a big foray into the worldwide market as properly, the Air India MD stated each carriers are addressing completely different elements of the market.

“I think there are different market segments and I think that’s evidenced by the fact that in Australia you have a full-service and a low-cost airline. In Singapore, Germany, France, you can sort of take your pick. We will stand for full service at Air India. Product quality, consistency, warmth of service, full service, meals, entertainment, comfortable seats, business class, first class, premium economy class,” Mr Wilson stated. 

“Of course, we do have a low-cost business, Air India Express. And so, for people that don’t quite want those bells and whistles or prefer price over product and service, we will offer them a proposition as well. So really our portfolio approach is to ensure that we meet the needs of the consumer. We don’t necessarily dictate to the consumer what they should take from us,” he added.

A ‘Maharani’ Soon?

With the airline altering its model id and livery, NDTV requested Mr Wilson whether or not Air India – on the traces of the enduring Maharaja – might have a Maharani quickly.

“Anything’s possible. I think let’s just take it a step at a time. We’ve just released a new brand, people are still getting used to that new brand. We’ve said quite categorically that the Maharaja is part of the future Air India. It will have a certain manifestation closer to home, maybe a slightly different manifestation outside India. We’ll see how it evolves. Air India will see new uniforms as well,” he stated. 

Upgrading The Old, In With The New

The MD stated Air India is refurbishing a number of plane as a part of its long-term transformation plan, referred to as ‘vihaan.AI’ and that the airline desires to characterize the brand new India, which is “confident, warm and hospitable”. He stated the airline desires the 470 new plane, that are coming in, to take a seat and develop on a powerful base.

“That’s why we committed to the $400 million for complete refurbishment of all of the wide-body aircraft with new seats, new in-flight entertainment, new galleys, new lavatories – essentially a complete replacement of the interior. Installation of the seats will commence on the first aircraft in the middle of next year in addition to those refurbished aircraft,” he stated

On the plane which were grounded for a very long time and the trouble – and an enormous variety of elements – that was wanted to revive them, the MD stated, “It was a significant process because there were, if I recall, about 30 aircraft that had been grounded. I believe we’ve got two aircraft, two widebody aircraft at least, that are still in the process of being recovered. Some of these aircraft require thousands of parts. In totality, I think we’re now up to about 40,000 parts that we’ve needed to acquire to get these aircraft airworthy.”

He stated it was no secret that the world is present process a provide chain crunch and getting the elements and putting in them has taken time. “But we’re nearly at the end of that journey, thankfully. That’s what has allowed us to increase service to five new cities already this year, international cities, and expand frequency on others,” he stated. 

“Then, of course, there’s new aircraft we have coming in Thus far, we’ve got six 777s that have  already entered the fleet and are serving routes to North America and London. We have five more coming in over the next four-five months And we have six of our new A350s coming in before March 2024. Which will mean that. by March 2024, about 30% of our wide-body aircraft will be of a modern standard,” Mr Wilson stated. 

Big Progress

The Air India MD additionally praised the “massive progress” India has made in infrastructure growth for civil aviation, and sounded very upbeat concerning the instructions the airline might go in, and the brand new routes it might discover. 

“The great thing about Indian aviation is that there are so many more opportunities than we have aircraft at the moment. So you could almost take your pick. There are many cities in North America that would warrant non-stop service from India – and not just from Delhi, from other markets. Likewise, Europe, Australia, Asia, Africa – I think there is a range of options and opportunities for us,” he stated.