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\nThe chief executive of Air India said the carrier is embarking on the biggest turnround effort in airline history as he outlined ambitions to turn India into the next major aviation hub following a huge order for new planes. Campbell Wilson said he hoped to return the recently privatised airline to the \u201cupper echelons\u201d of global aviation as part of an overhaul by new owner Tata Sons. Wilson has begun to rebuild an airline that has been bleeding $2.4mn a day, is upgrading a fleet of antiquated planes, and runs on some of the oldest information technology in the industry. \u201cIt\u2019s certainly the biggest aviation turnround, I think, that I am ever aware of\u2009.\u2009.\u2009. I don\u2019t think there is anything that has ever been attempted like this before,\u201d Wilson told the Financial Times. Tata, the industrial group that acquired the formerly state-owned national carrier after a $2.4bn bid in 2021, last year began a five-year turnround programme codenamed Vihaan.AI \u2014 derived from the Sanskrit for \u201cdawn of a new era\u201d \u2014 aimed at transforming the brand following nearly 70 years in state hands. Last month the airline announced its global ambitions with an order for 470 planes from Airbus and Boeing, one of the largest ever such purchases. The airline is recruiting staff and pilots and rolling out services in hope of capitalising on India\u2019s growing economy and population \u2014 from this year the world\u2019s largest \u2014 and diaspora, many of whom fly to India via the Gulf. Wilson said he planned to triple passenger numbers and to eventually challenge Gulf airport hubs including Dubai and Qatar for layover traffic. Tata is also seeking regulatory permission to merge Vistara, its airline joint venture with Singapore Airlines, into Air India. As part of the planned merger, Singapore Airlines is investing about $250mn in Air India, giving it a 25.1 per cent stake. Air India is also integrating its Air Asia Express and Air Asia India into a single carrier. Wilson was unable to say when the carrier would turn a profit, but pointed to \u201cso much low-hanging fruit\u201d for cost cuts and revenue growth, including modernising basic functions such as scheduling, fuel and insurance contracts and its frequent flyer programme. He said the airline was the last in the world to switch away from an old reservation system, and until the takeover had last hired anyone to work in IT in 2007. Recommended Philip Georgiadis Airlines defy gravity as economic gloom fails to bring them down to earth Air India\u2019s new owners have started to invest heavily in IT \u2014 in a business where many processes were formerly manual \u2014 and installing new seats and in-flight systems in its shopworn existing fleet. Wilson said he did not \u201cwant to speak ill\u201d of the airline\u2019s previous leaders, who he said were constrained by the bureaucracies of public ownership. \u201cThey kept it going. They kept it going long enough to be purchased.\u201d But some international observers have questioned whether such a turnround is possible, given how Indian carriers have long struggled to compete on the global stage. Ryanair chief executive Michael O\u2019Leary, another major Boeing customer, questioned whether Air India would \u201cever take all those aircraft\u201d. \u201cThe history of Indian aviation is boom, bust, boom, bust,\u201d he told the FT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4339,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[102,88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-en","category-flights"],"yoast_head":"\n