On the occasion of the first anniversary of Tata Sons buying Air India from the government, the airline said it is in the process of finalising a “historic” order of new aircraft for future growth.
According to recent media reports, the airline is said to be exploring an order that includes a mix of Boeing and Airbus single- and double-aisle planes.
Sharing data on the improvement in operational parameteres since January 27, 2022 when the government handed over the ownership and management of the airline, Air India said it had been able to double its average daily revenue by raising aircraft capacity by 27% to 100, increasing flights by 30% and flying 72% more passengers.
The airline, which aims to be a globally recognised brand in the next five years, has also focussed on its international expansion and added 16 new routes, and increased frequencies on as many as nine other routes. This had allowed it to increase its weekly international flights by 63%, it said.
With CEO Campbell Wilson personally incharge of on-time performance (OTP), or punctuality, the airline was able to clock the best OTP across all airlines in October with 90.98% of its flights taking off or departing on time. This stood at an average of 70% in 2021.
Another issue of concern among passengers was delay in response from customer care, and the airline said it had more than doubled the manpower at its call centre thereby reducing the average wait time by almost 90%. It has also been able to clear a backlog of a whopping 10 lakh aged or legacy refunds.
Apart from announcing the acquisition of AirAsia India and its merger with subsidiary Air India Express, the airline had also announced its merger with Vistara; Singapore Airlines will gain a shareholding of 25.1% in the merged entity which will be split into a budget carrier and a full-service carrier.
