Wilson confident of competing with international airliners
Capacity at Air India is being ramped up at full pace with one new aircraft joining the fleet every six days, as the airliner has turnaround over the last 18 months.
“We have new aircraft, we are recruiting many, many new crew and staff, improving the training regime and there is more work to do and we are making good progress,” the privatised airliner CEO and MD Campbell Wilson said on 10 Nov at the 67 Assembly of President of Association of Asia Pacific Airliners.
Speaking at a Session on “From Idle Speed to Full Throttle: Rebooting Asia Pacific Air Transport World”, he said, “Four airlines were being merged into one. The enlarged airliner was in full pace capacity building.”
Air India has ordered 470 aircraft to serve the Indian economy which is growing at a CAGR 8%. The enlarged Air India is set to receive a new aircraft every six days over the next 18 months, he said in an update on the airline which is a merger between Air India and Vistara – an Air India and Singapore Airlines (SIA) 51:49 joint venture. SIA will have 25.1% in the merged Air India.
Most of the grounded planes have been restored, Wilson told reporters at the AAPA event.
Prospects wise, it is “Incredible India” and policy is to keep growing, he added.
Vast majority of Air India customers want reliability and punctuality, and the challenge is to satisfy the customers’ requirements, he conceded.
New aircraft are being put on the international flights, he told some 220 delegates at the assembly.
He is also confident of competing with other airlines and increasing traffic, for Air India has been a weak player in the industry in the past, he said.
Current air travel demand in India is 20% above 2019 levels as India reopened sooner, according to Subash Menon, director general of Association of Asia Pacific Airlines.
As the region’s borders reopened after the rest of the world, Asia Pacific air travel recovery at 69 per cent, trails other regions, for the year to September, he said.
But growth is still dramatic. Asia Pacific passenger traffic increased 171% over the same period in 2022, while capacity growth was a slower 130%.
As air travel recovered later in Asia than other regions, many Asian airlines could not resume services to Europe to use slots as required by the EU, he continued. The loss of these slots affects connectivity between the two regions.
International air transport exists under a shared framework of rules and norms at ICAO. Any unilateral departure from this framework, detracts from its pillars, namely safety, sustainability, security and cross-border mobility, he stressed. Fiinews.com
