A file photo of Air India's B747 aircraft at the IGI Airport in New Delhi. (Photo | PTI)
NEW DELHI: Air India on Monday said it will spend USD 70 billion to purchase 470 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus. According to Campbell Wilson, CEO of the airline, they have plans to finance the deal via a combination of resources, which include internal cash flow, equity, and the sale and leaseback of aircraft.
In the biggest single-order purchase by an airline in the country, Air India earlier this month announced making an order for 220 aircraft from Boeing and 250 planes from Airbus. “We have committed to a historic order of new aircraft that will start entering the fleet from the end of this year through the end of the decade, to both transform the fleet and power significant network and capacity expansion,” he said in a virtual press conference.
With respect to exercising the option to purchase another 370 planes, Wilson noted, “We don’t have a timeline... will evaluate the market.” The CEO believes Air India has enormous potential to become a significant international player and the addition of wide-body planes would enable them to increase long-haul connectivity.
“A new order for 70 widebody planes combined with its existing fleet and other leased aircraft will lead to a many-fold increase in our long-haul fleet and therefore capacity,” Wilson said. Wilson also hinted about increasing direct flights to North America and European destinations such as Frankfurt, Paris and the UK. Currently, medium and long-haul flights (to and from India) have a strong presence of foreign carriers such as Emirates, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines and United Airlines.
To attract consumers, Wilson said they will be spending $400 million on refurbishing and upgrading their planes. Air India also is inducting about 500 cabin crew each month. On the merger of Vistara with Air India, the CEO said that the process is underway and now they awaiting approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI). The integration of Air India Express and AIX Connect, earlier known as AirAsia India, is also underway.
The CEO also spoke about the ‘pee incident’ which took place in November last year and tarnished the airline’s image. Wilson said that they learnt lessons and that they could have reacted better. “The airline has realised the importance of reporting incidents,” he said.
Air India faces criticism from diplomat, celebrity chef
As Air India CEO Campbell Wilson on Monday spoke about creating a global airline with world-class facilities, senior Indian diplomat KJ Srinivasa on the same day complained about the facilities at the airline’s business class lounge at the John F Kennedy airport in New York, terming it a “pathetic state of affairs.”
Srinivasa, the Indian envoy to Guyana, Antigua & Barbuda Kitts & Nevis & Anguilla, took to Twitter and said that the Air India business class lounge at JFK had empty food containers, disposable plates and cutlery and the staff were unresponsive. On the same day, celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor also slammed Air India after he was served ‘unsatisfactory meals’ on a flight from Nagpur to Mumbai.
