Air India Completes 1 Year With Tata Group

As the Tata group completes the first year since acquiring Air India, the airline announced on Friday that it is finalizing a historic order of new aircraft, with Air India's CEO Campbell Wilson highlighting the carrier's extraordinary achievements.

As Air India 2.0 entered its second year, Wilson admitted that there will be challenges along the way but stressed that more than accomplishments, "it is how we respond to our lapses ... that will define us".

As part of a five-year transformation roadmap under Vihaan.AI, the airline has agreed to invest USD 400 million in interior upgrades for all of its wide-body aircraft.

However, the airline has recently encountered some issues as a result of the disruptive behaviour of customers on two international flights, and the DGCA has also fined the company.

Air India reported that over the past year, among other initiatives, its total number of operational aircraft increased by 27% to 100, 16 new international routes were either announced or launched, the company's daily average revenue doubled, and the number of employees at its call centre more than doubled.

On January 27 of last year, the Tata group acquired ownership of the struggling Air India from the government.

"Taken together, the progress over the last 12 months has been nothing short of stunning, even if so much of what we have been working on has been behind the scenes, building platforms and capabilities so that our future ambitions can take flight. There is of course much more that needs to be done, and everyone - internally and externally - is hungry for us to do it,"  Wilson remarked.

"Happy Friday, folks... and Happy Anniversary, for today marks the first anniversary since Air India returned to Tata!"  he began his statement. Wilson expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the staff for their tireless efforts throughout the past year.