Air India to Buy Air Bus fleet Reorganising itself under Tatas

MUMBAI -Air India is clearly reorganising itself under the “able stewardship” of the Tata Group and wants to invest in new planes to regain international passenger market share, the Chief Commercial Officer of Airbus said.

His remarks came after it was reported last week that the Tata Group-owned Air India has decided to procure its maiden batch of wide-bodied A350 aircraft from Airbus and the first plane is likely to be delivered to the airline by March 2023.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the annual general meeting of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) held here, Christian Scherer was asked whether Air India had finalised the A350 aircraft order with Airbus. “I will not comment on that,” the Chief Commercial Officer of the European Aerospace company said in response.

PASSENGER COMPLAINTS: Air India was only behind FlyBig, among scheduled commercial airlines, in the number of passenger complaints registered during April, according to the latest data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). FlyBig registered 2.5 complaints per 10,000 passengers, while for Air India it was at 2.4. In comparison, airlines such as IndiGo and Vistara received 0.1 complaints per 10,000 passengers during the month. The Tata Group took control of Air India on January 27.

His remarks came after it was reported last week that the Tata Group-owned Air India has decided to procure its maiden batch of wide-bodied A350 aircraft from Airbus and the first plane is likely to be delivered to the airline by March 2023.

However, it was not immediately clear how many A350 aircraft will be purchased by Air India. “Air India is clearly reorganising itself under the very able stewardship of the Tatas and as such, it is very natural that they contemplate an investment in new fleets, new airplanes, if only to regain more sovereignty, more market share, for an Indian carrier in the international market,” Scherer said.

Air India has not bought a single aircraft since 2006 when it had placed orders for purchasing 111 aircraft – 68 from the US-based aircraft manufacturer Boeing and 43 from European aircraft manufacturer Airbus.

A wide-bodied plane like Airbus A350 has a bigger fuel tank that allows it to travel longer distances such as India-US routes. The Tata Group took control of Air India on January 27 after successfully winning the bid for the airline on October 8 last year.

COMPLAINTS:  

“Tata Group is concerned with the high number of complaints and have formed teams to look into the matter. The crew and staff will go through multiple training sessions to improve the customer experience," said a senior industry executive, one of the people mentioned above, who didn’t want to be named.

Air India was only behind FlyBig, among scheduled commercial airlines, in the number of passenger complaints registered during April, according to the latest data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). FlyBig registered 2.5 complaints per 10,000 passengers, while for Air India it was at 2.4. In comparison, airlines such as IndiGo and Vistara received 0.1 complaints per 10,000 passengers during the month.