New Air India by 2025-end: CEO Campbell Wilson

Air India plans to establish a low-cost stronghold in local routes, alongside the broader goal of revitalizing the Tata group-owned airline by refurbishing its entire fleet by the end of 2025, chief executive officer (CEO) Campbell Wilson said.

- Anu Sharma & Mihir Mishra

“We’re very confident that we’re in the right place for full service being long-haul, medium-haul international. Domestically, it’s quite clear that the market is most appropriate for low-cost, which is why we have Air India Express that will form the bulk of our domestic flights as well as some short-haul international," Wilson said in an interview on Monday. “But the positioning of Air India Express is very definitely going to be low-cost. We won’t be putting business-class seats into the aircraft," he added.

The Tata group acquired Air India and its low-fare unit Air India Express in January 2022 under a government-led strategic divestment programme. Later that year, the Tata group announced a merger between Air India and Vistara, and between Air India Express and AirAsia India. The two mergers are currently underway.

“There will be a full-service presence on metro-to-metro and on routes that we believe have significant international connectivity. But the market is clearly most conducive to low-cost domestically. So, Air India Express will be the majority of our domestic operations," Wilson added.