Air India CEO Campbell Wilson on Monday said the list price of 470 aircraft, which were ordered recently from Boeing and Airbus, is $70 billion. He also said Air India will let go of Vistara brand after the merger, as the Air India brand is more popular globally.
Addressing the press conference virtually on Monday, Wilson said Air India has “enormous” potential and efforts are on to make the group a significant international player.
Earlier this month, Air India announced a mega order to purchase 470 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus to support its growth plans. It has already announced plans to lease 36 aircraft of which two B777-200 LR have already joined the fleet.
On the Air India-Vistara merger, Wilson said the process of integration of Vistara with Air India is underway and is now 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.
On the mass hiring, Wilson said Air India has recruited 1,200 ground staff, 300 for airport and 200 cabin crew. Last week, Tata group-owned Air India also said it is planning to hire over 4,200 cabin crew trainees and 900 pilots in 2023 as the airline adds new aircraft and rapidly expands its domestic and international operations.
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.
The Air India CEO said the airline has enormous potential and unprecedented opportunities. The group is working on becoming a significant international player.
Wilson said the funding would be through a combination of various sources.
The Tata Group took over Air India in January last year.
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