NEW DELHI: The “wings of change” promised by Tata Group for Air India will soon start becoming visible with new aircraft and a professional domain-specific management. The airline is learnt to have started work on “entry into service” for the state-of-the-art Airbus A350 aircraft that may start joining the fleet early next year. And a veteran from Tata’s trusted airline partner Singapore Airlines (SIA), Campbell Wilson, will take over as MD-CEO on Monday — just days after his last day at SIA budget arm Scoot as CEO on June 15.
This shows the urgency AI’s new owners have shown in getting an aviation pro to run the Maharaja. To be sure the Tatas have not downplayed the legacy issues at AI and say a complete turnaround will take some time.
“Russian Aeroflot had ordered about a dozen A350s whose delivery was scheduled to begin now in a phased manner. This won’t happen now for obvious reasons (sanctions on Russia). Qatar Airways, which is in the midst of a spat with the European aircraft major, also had some A350s on order. Some of these birds are nearly ready for delivery and can be given to alternate customer/s. Talks are on between Tatas and Airbus,” say people in the know.
