Air India has expressed intent to acquire a massive number of both Airbus and Boeing jets that will modernize and transform its fleet. Will Air India in the Tata Group era emerge as a leading premium carrier of the world?
New Aircraft Order Is Pivotal First Step, But Air India Must Refresh Service Model Onboard To Become A Premium Carrier
After being privatized in January 2022, Air India has signed respective letters of intent with Airbus and Boeing to purchase the following jets:
- Airbus
- 140 A320neo
- 70 A321neo
- 6 A350-900
- 34 A350-1000
- Boeing
- 190 737 MAX (with option for 50 more)
- 10 777-9
- 20 787 (with option for 20 more)
The order will transform the aging fleet of Air India, which includes 777 and 787-8 jets for longhaul travel.
But Air India is currently the butt of many jokes concerning its onboard service, with recent revelations that flight attendants appeared indifferent to a drunk male passenger urinating on an older female passenger in-flight. That story is one of many and the flag carrier of India is not known for its luxury.
Under Tata, however, Air India will merge with Vistara and the plan is to transform Air India into a leading carrier of the world.
Air India remains one of two Star Alliance carriers I have never flown (the other being Shenzhen Airlines) and under the current service model, I have no desire to. But if the current management at Air India is willing to take on a beleaguered state-owned enterprise, I am hopeful that investment will not only concentrate on aircraft, but the soft product onboard.
Many airlines have flashy new aircraft, but it is only the hospitality onboard–which includes meal service–that distinguishes the great from the good. Little things like nicely plating meals instead of serving them covered in foil or addressing passengers by name or offering a premium ground product will all be instrumental in gauging whether Air India can truly transform itself.
I look forward to that ride and of all the carriers in the world right now, I see that Air India has the greatest room for improvement…but also the greatest potential.
CONCLUSION
Air India plans the largest aircraft order in the history of aviation. But new aircraft alone will not solve its woes. Indeed, it must transform its service model as well…or else it be guilty of simply putting lipstick on a pig.
image: Air India
India’s aviation sector is littered with big ambitions and big failures. Air India is an awful airline and likely will not reverse is terrible image with a 400+ plane order. It will take years for those planes to be delivered.
I haven’t flown AI in years. One time I misconnected in UAE due to the carrier and I was put on AI and that flight was not good.
However, recent experiences from people are that the airline is on the up and up. Food in Biz is good now even though hard product is severely lacking. Although It seems with the Tata purchase things seem to be improving only time will tell if it will really improve.
I believe AI under Tata ownership when the airline first commenced operations had really good product (saw some pictures) but I guess that’s of a bygone era.
Nice jump for Boeing stock on the news yesterday. It has been a sneaky good investment the past 6 months but still a long way to go to get back to 2019 levels.
AI is currently awful, but if anyone has the size, resources, and talent to turn it around it will be Tata. The opportunity is certainly there given the fact that a huge part of what EK and QR built their companies on was traffic to and from India. If AI can compete on both quality and price, their ability to fly non-stop will make them a formidable competitor.
Is Scott Kirby moving to be the CEO of Air India? Only a guy with his ego has those dream ambitions without ever delivering it.
Matthew, you didn’t include Air India’s order for 10 777-9s.
Singapore Airlines model of service was based on Air India in the late 1960s, before it was Nationalized by the Indian Government of Indira Gandhi. AI got their first 747 in 1960s. It WAS a premium airline then, believe it or not.
Tatas are capable of getting it done, but it also depends on how the staff have been molded by government handouts and culture. They can not fire anyone for a year under terms of purchase, but after a year they can start cleaning it up.
You note that “under the current service model, I have no desire to” to fly Air India. And I agree, it’s pretty bad right now. But to be fair, you have flown worse airlines such as Avianca, Ukranian, EgyptAir to name a few…
So I’m curious if there’s anything in particular about AI that bothers you such that it is a complete “no-go”?
I have flown Air India on 100+ flights, both domestically and internationally. They definitely have their flaws which are well known and true.
Here are the positives:
1. Awesome Star Gold recognition. Atleast in Mumbai, they send you to beautiful Adani lounges with hot food, live food trucks and showers. You are usually the among first to board as Star Gold. They always have helpers around to help you with luggage during check-in.
2. Friendly service if you talk politely to the ground staff and FAs (the key is to treat them with respect as they are used to a lot of abuse – seen it firsthand so many times). I have been offered all kinds of food and drink, better seating and ground staff have even called out to me to come to the first class check-in when I was on my phone and walked by (this is ground staff I had chatted with on previous flights).
3. More spacious seats (3-3-3 on 777, more legroom on their domestic planes)
4. Free food and tea/coffee/water on every flight, which most of the competition in India domestic doesn’t serve
5. Direct flights from North America to India (as they are the only one that still uses Russian airspace)
Tatas are well respected in India for being generally fair and ethical compared to other companies. Hopefully they will be able to take AI to the next level.
I think Air India’s problem is that they treat passengers differently based on where they perceive them to be from. I’ve had several pleasant flights on AI in Y and J, and have also never had any real issues with the ground experience. They’re certainly not the most luxurious carrier, but there are many carriers that are far worse than AI. To ‘call a spade a spade,’ they serve Champagne in J; something Delta can’t say.
With good service for all passengers, there’s no reason they should continue to be the butt of jokes.
Air India was privatized in Jan 2022, not last month. Geez, Pls fix it.
Futher AI has options on 370 more airbus aircraft, though the break up has not been dicslosed