DUBAI- On the sidelines of the IATA Annual General Meeting last week in Dubai, Air India (AI) official revealed the latest developments including in-house maintenance capability, plans to lease widebody planes, progress with retrofits, and more.
Following the Tata Group’s acquisition in 2022, Air India, previously operating at a loss, has initiated a five-year transformation plan (Vihaan.AI) to drive improvements.
Air India Maintenance Capabilities
Tata Group-backed Indian FSC, Air India is taking help from group airlines’ engineering team to carry out maintenance on its fleet.
A senior official who wants anonymity told PTI that Air India is internalizing line maintenance component tasks and leveraging the licensing and skills of group airlines for specific aircraft types. This strategy will enable Air India to perform more maintenance work under its own quality control
Despite this, Air India has recently reported multiple technical snags and issues with its long-haul fleet which operates flights to North America.
Apart from this, the airline is planning to set up one of the largest MRO facilities by 2025 at Bengaluru Airport (BLR) to streamline the maintenance of its fleet. India’s largest domestic carrier, IndiGo Airlines (6E) already has a maintenance base at BLR, which it inaugurated in 2022.
Air India official while explaining the reason for technical problems with old 777s and 787s said,
The Boeing 777-200LRs, the smallest fleet, service routes to the US West Coast. With limited substitutes available, any issue with these aircraft can significantly disrupt operations.
Recently, at least four of Air India’s ultra-long-haul flights operated with Boeing 777s experienced substantial delays due to technical and operational problems.
Plans to Lease Widebody Planes
Air India currently operates a fleet of 43 legacy wide-body planes, comprising 16 Boeing 777s and 27 Boeing 787s.
At a CAPA India Aviation Summit in Delhi, Air India CEO and MD Campbell Wilson announced plans to retrofit over 100 planes, including 40 wide-body aircraft, and has ordered around 25,000 new seats as part of the fleet revamp.
Addressing the issues with legacy planes on ultra-long-haul flights, an official stated that while the airline is eager to lease additional aircraft, the market, especially for wide-body planes, is highly competitive.
Presently, Air India also operates wide-body aircraft leased from Delta Air Lines (DL) and Etihad Airways (EY).
While the airline sees ongoing expansion opportunities, it remains aware of the reliability issues with legacy aircraft and is working to upgrade them to current standards and replace them with new planes.
Last year, Air India ordered 470 planes from Airbus and Boeing, including 70 wide-body aircraft. The carrier is already utilizing six A350s, which will be increasingly deployed on international routes in the coming months.
Recently, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has approved the merger of Air India and Vistara (UK) marking the final step in the process.
Bottom Line
Honestly, I think it will take time and lots of effort to revive Air India. Yes, the management is trying their best to do things rightfully but sometimes the technical and operational challenges lead to disruption.
The decision to not buy AIESL during privatization is causing serious challenges to Air India. Campbell Wilson has also said earlier that it was a mistake to not buy a full-fledged and widely spread AIESL MRO.
Due to this they are now relying on them and don’t have full control over maintenance quality. However, the airline has done a commendable job in reviving grounded planes that were eating up the revenue just by sitting inside the hangar or at the airport bay.
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