Days after Tata group-owned Air India placed the historic order of 470 aircraft as part of its fleet expansion plans, CEO Campbell Wilson talked about the plans to fund the massive order. The carrier is looking at funding the $70 billion order with internal cash, shareholder equity and through sale-and-leasebacks.
In one of the largest aircraft order by any airline in the world in the entire aviation history, Air India had announced to buy 470 jets – 250 from Airbus and 220 by Boeing. This large order will not only help Air India replace its aging fleet but also cater to the rising air traffic in India.
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,” CEO Wilson said at a press conference on Monday.
The massive aircraft order comes a little over a year after the Tata group took over the cash-strapped airline last year in January. Wilson shared that the Air India has embarked on probably the greatest transformation in aviation history, adding that it has “enormous” potential and efforts are on to make the group a significant international player.
Additionally, the integration of Air India Express and AIX Connect, earlier known as AirAsia India, is also underway.
In November 2022, Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines (SIA) announced their decision to merge Vistara with Air India. Speaking on the development, Wilson noted that Air India will let go of Vistara brand after the merger, as the Air India brand is more popular globally.
Air India Hiring
The Tata-owned airline is set to recruit thousands as it looks at expanding its fleet. Just a few days back, Air India had said it will hire over 5,000 employees, including 900 pilots, in line with its massive expansion plans. The airline is looking to hire over 4,200 cabin crew and 900 pilots this year.
On the carrier’s hiring plans, Wilson said the carrier has hired 1,200 ground staff, 300 for airport and 200 cabin crew. Between May 2022 and February 2023, Air India hired over 1,900 cabin crew. Over 1,100 cabin crew have been trained in the last seven months (between July 2022-January 2023), and in the past three months, about 500 cabin crew have been released for flying by the airline.
According to Wilson, Air India has enormous potential and unprecedented opportunities and the Tata group is working on becoming a significant international player.
