Leased every aircraft available, nothing left

In a wide-ranging interview, Air India Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Campbell Wilson spoke to Deepak Patel in New Delhi on issues such as supply-chain disruption, leasing of planes, the impact of the Pakistan airspace closure, bilateral rights, user fee on business class passengers, and more. Edited excerpts:

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You had said last year that Air India Group, which has about 300 planes in its fleet, will expand to 400 by 2027.

Is that on track?

It is generally on track. When Air India was privatised, the airline was itself operating around 70 aircraft. Air India Express (Air India's low-cost airline subsidiary) had about 25 planes. So, in total, there were less than 100 planes at the time. Today, the Air India Group has about 305 planes. Obviously, from the 570 aircraft that we have ordered (since 2023 from Airbus and Boeing), a lot of deliveries are yet to come. Whether or not we have 400 aircraft, plus or minus a couple, really depends on the pace of those deliveries — that would be in the hands of Airbus and Boeing, not ours. But yes, it will be very much in that ballpark.

Is leasing planes an interim solution to deal with the supply-chain issues and consequent slow deliveries of new planes?

A320s. We will take delivery of the 50th B737 whitetail aircraft next week. We took six whitetail A350s.

We have pretty much consumed all capacity that was out there for immediate availability. If there was more, we would have taken more. Every airline is struggling for more capacity due to production delays. In theory, it is a solution. In practice, there is nothing to get.

You have spoken quite strongly against granting more bilateral rights to certain locations (such as West Asian hubs). How does Air India see the government stance on this matter?

India has entered into many liberal, and, in some cases, opensky agreements with countries in North America, Australasia, and Europe. And they are driven by equality of opportunity. That is a key principle to bear in mind.