HOW TO FIX AIR INDIA

THE AHMEDABAD CRASH HAS CAST A LONG SHADOW OVER AIR INDIA'S REVIVAL STORY, EXPOSING CRACKS IN SAFETY, STAFFING AND SYSTEMS. WHAT THE TATA-OWNED AIRLINE NEEDS TO DO TO REGAIN TRUST AND PURSUE ITS GLOBAL AMBITIONS

- By AVISHEK G. DASTIDAR & M.G. ARUN

Just 10 days before the London Gatwick-bound Air India flight AI 171 crashed within seconds of takeoff in Ahmedabad on June 12, the airline had been busy staging its most high-profile media blitz since privatisation. On the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) annual general meeting in New Delhi from June 1-3, Air India's MD and CEO Campbell Wilson, flanked by the company's senior brass, met over 30 top aviation writers and editors from India and abroad. An upbeat Wilson spoke of how, three years after the Tata Group took over the beleaguered public sector airline, it had moved from a phase of stabilisation to one of sufficiency—finally having enough aircraft to fuel its ambitions. The next goal: sharpening operational efficiency. The makeover programme titled 'Vihaan.AI', which was unveiled in September 2022 and was slated to transform Air India as “a global airline with an Indian heart” in five years, was said to have reached a very satisfying halfway mark.

That image came undone with the crash of Air India's Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner—one of the deadliest in India's aviation history, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and at least 19 on the ground. The disaster thrust the Tata-owned airline into the harsh glare of media and regulatory scrutiny. In its immediate aftermath, the airline cancelled 83 international flights within a week and then announced a 15 per cent reduction in its widebody international operations through mid-July. Even as a high-powered, multi-agency committee, chaired by the Union home secretary, was given three months to probe the crash and suggest reforms, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on June 20 pulled up Air India for repeated violations of crew duty norms and ordered the removal of three senior officials. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is learnt to have submitted its preliminary crash report to the Centre, though the findings remain undisclosed.