Skift Take

Air India CEO Campbell Wilson has lofty ambitions for Air India. Once underinvested by the Indian government, Air India now 470 aircraft on order and hired thousands of new employees as part of an effort to turn its operations around.

Meghna Maharishi

Air India CEO Campbell Wilson is undertaking a massive project: completely overhauling India's newly privatized 92-year-old flag carrier after decades of underinvestment by the Indian government. The average age of an Air India employee was 54 years old. The airline had such a dated email system that its employees started using Gmail.

But that's the old Air India, according to Wilson. Wilson, who previously worked for the widely-renowned Singapore Airlines, thinks he can bring the same level of service and reputation to Air India — but it'll take time. Air India's transformation is built on a five-year plan known as "Vihaan.AI." And 18 months into it, Air India has already placed a historic order for 470 aircraft and hired 5,000 new employees, lowering the average employee age from 54 to 35.

Here are the highlights from Wilson's interview at the Skift India Summit 2024. Quotes have been lightly edited and shortened for clarity. Watch the full interview below.

https://youtu.be/G1sMikX5CRo Air India Is Fully Overhauling Its Operations as Part of Its Transformation.

Wilson: The intention and the ambition always was to restore Air India to being a top tier world-class airline. This whole transformation took off probably about 18 months ago when we launched our "Vihaan" program, which is a five-year transformation. The first six months was really triage, trying to address all of the accumulated sins of the past and clean up so we could at least look forward. Then the subsequent year, which is just about to finish, has been about putting a lot of the foundations, whether it be systems, people, processes, premises, equipment in place to really enable us now to take that bold leap forward and bring Air India to where we want it to be.

Campbell Hopes the Merger Between Air India and Vistara Will Be Seamless.

Wilson: I think we've been very clear that Vistara in the long term will become Air India. The Air India brand is 92 years old. It is recognized around the world. It has a very strong — if recently tarnished —heritage. But Air India is the nation's brand, and so I think it would be foolish for us not to play on that strength.

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