Air India finalising 'historic' order of new aircraft

With its completion of an year with Tata group, Air India on Friday said it is finalising a 'historic' order of new aircraft to power future growth and also looking forward to achieve its five years roadmap, 'Vihaan', and make Air India the world's best airline.

Air India said various initiatives across 22 broad workstreams are underway to transform the airline over three phases, namely Taxi, Take Off and Climb.

These initiatives under Vihaan included the commitment of Us$400mn to refurbish the interiors of its entire wide-body fleet, the merger with Vistara with the combined entity having a shareholding of Singapore Airlines, the acquisition of Airasia India and its merger with subsidiary Air India Express, establishment of an information technology centre in Kochi, and establishment of a world-class training academy.

On the occasion of its first anniversary under Tata group, Air India also said the airline will transform itself over the next five years to being among the best globally with an Indian heart.

On November 29, Singapore Airlines and Tata Sons said they planned to merge Air India and Vistara, with Singapore Airlines holding 25.1 per cent of the merged entity. The merger is expected to be completed by March next year.

On November 2, Air India said an operational review process is underway to integrate budget carrier Airasia India with Air India Express and the merger is likely by the end of 2023.

On January 27, Air India completed an year of its return with Air India under Tata. When the Tata group took charge last year, the public perception was that it wanted to take the airline back to the glory days under the legendary JRD Tata.

Soon after winning the bid for Air India, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran said, "We are excited to bring Air India back to the Tata Group and are committed to making it a world-class airline."

A year since Air India came back to Tata's fold, the airline has made some significant gains.