Air India: Air India hopes to grow domestic, smaller international flights in 2025; said CEO Campbell Wilson

New Delhi| Air India chief Campbell Wilson reported on Thursday that much of the increase in their air traffic in 2025 will come from domestic and short-haul international flights, as its fleet is adding more narrow-bodied aircraft, with older wide-bodied aircraft being replaced next year

The Tata Group-owned airline, which is on a transition drive for five years, is expected to have a fleet of 400 aircraft by 2027. At present, the total number of Air India Group fleet including Air India Express is around 300 aircraft.

Wilson has been the head of Air India for more than two years. He said during a media briefing that the airline group’s share of the domestic market is around 29 per cent and the airline’s share on metro to metro routes is 55 per cent. He said that we have a market share of about 40 per cent on the top 120 domestic routes. According to him, refurbishment of the old wide-body aircraft will begin in early 2025.

“We had hoped that by now the 787 and 777 aircraft would begin refurbishment work”, Wilson said. Unfortunately, global supply chains are still getting back on track in some areas and seats in particular are a challenge. According to the CEO of Air India when its (retrofit) work starts in 2025, then we will bring 3-4 aircraft into operation every month, until the complete set of 40 wide-body aircraft is ready.

Regarding the increase for 2025, he said it would come mainly from domestic and short-haul international flights, as most of the incoming aircraft are narrow-bodied. “We are also taking the planes for the refit programme”, he said. Therefore, the number of wide-body aircraft available will be slightly reduced”

Tata Group has merged Vistara with Air India as part of its plan to strengthen its airline business. AIX Connect has also been integrated with Air India Express. Air India’s chief executive officer and managing director said there were delays in acquiring all 50 White Tail aircraft, which were formerly expected to join the fleet by December this year. At least 35 aircraft out of a total of 50 White Tail Boeing 737 MAX aircraft have joined the fleet. These aircraft are being operated by Air India Express.

“The planes, with 50 white tails, were due by December of this year”, Wilson said, responding to a question about delays caused by problems at Boeing, including a recent strike. Now they’ll come by June next year and that will have little impact on the airline’s operations” “It is not clear how long its impact will last”, he said. Six months is a reasonable time for some aircraft.” Generally, white tail aircraft are those which are originally manufactured for a particular airline and are later taken over by another airline.