What Air India is getting right, and where it is losing the plot

Hindustan Times

15-05-2025

I recently wrote about the horrifying experience of 180-odd passengers bound for Bengaluru from Delhi on an Air India flight on the night of Delhi's unexpected dust storm that threw schedules into disarray. The flight in question remained attached to the aerobridge and on the tarmac for 10 hours, a nightmarish experience. Many readers expressed horror and some in the government declared, as they are apt to do, that Air India was better managed under their control — a refrain that reeks of bureaucratic insecurity and seems to have stuck since the Tatas took charge of the airline in January 2022.
I also received at least five messages from readers on the airline's improved services on both domestic and international routes. Although in dribbles rather than a flood, many reports of the airline's improvements on both in-flight service standards, including food quality, and on-time performance are coming in, albeit mostly with respect to the newer-leased planes.
Almost universally, the reports are positive on the airline's in-flight cabin crew and their handling of passengers and situations. Given the airline's losses have fallen (as per recent reports), I beg to differ with those who argue that the government was managing the airline better than the Tatas.
The we-did-it-better brigade also conveniently forgets the fact that under government control, you and I were footing the bill for the airline's inefficiencies and inability to compete, not to forget all the excesses and frills employees, MLAs, MPs, and their kith and kin enjoyed. Now that it is the Tatas, it sounds better to me as a taxpayer. Nobody is denying that it has taken inordinately long to get here, but Air India does seem to be on the path to some sort of recovery.
There is no denying, though, that almost no week goes by without some politician, celebrity, or business or media personality taking to social media to air grievances against perceived unfair treatment or poor-quality service. The barrage of complaints has been incessant since the beginning of the year. Many members of the Air India senior management privately believe that there is a sustained campaign to malign their efforts, but even they can't deny that things are far from perfect.
I believe Air India is currently going through a phase of bipolarity wherein, on some days and certain aspects, things seem to have fallen in place, while on others, all hell breaks loose from time to time. The latter is particularly acute when other factors that need to be in harmony and do their bit go awry — such as a dust-storm or dense fog or torrential rains. In short, the airline's standard operating protocol seems to fall apart in crises, and the carrier resembles a headless chicken at such times. This, despite a new state-of-the-art emergency control centre and integrated operational control centre.
To understand the problem, I spoke to some former and present management members, and here is what I gathered. The overwhelming consensus appears to be that the carrier is yet to fully get a grip on its operations — particularly, in crisis situations. The two mergers, the breakneck speed of expansion, and several changes at the management level are yet to settle into an equilibrium.
While Air India did have SOPs in place before the sale, those have been upended now, to some extent. Those vested in the airline say that the top management seems more preoccupied with fighting the perceptions battle and is excessively focussed on visible and on-the-surface changes rather than on taking the bull by its horns. The massive, expensive rebranding exercise undertaken in 2023 was labelled by most as putting the cart before the horse.
An even bigger problem identified is the failure to fix responsibility and establish a clear line of accountability: Who takes the final call and are they available to take it during crisis situations? During the Delhi dust storm fiasco, the head cabin crew member said that she had no clear instructions and they were unable to get hold of those who could take the final call.
A more serious failure to fix responsibility within the airline was cited by sources recently when the airline fired a simulator trainer instructor and removed 10 pilots trained under him from flying duty after finding evidence of poor training practices and flouting of standard procedures. Many argued that the instructor was made a scapegoat while those senior to him, who were equally culpable, went scot-free. Observers say that fixing responsibility has never been a strength for the airline, and this aspect has not changed despite the new ownership: Old habits die hard.
What has flummoxed many is the studied silence from the Tata stable on the never-ending bloopers since these reflect directly on the group.
Why the Tata leadership has given the airline such a long rope and for how long this would continue is the question many ask, but no answers are forthcoming — at least yet. If the screws are indeed being tightened on the Air India management, it is happening behind closed doors and with plenty of discretion.
The group's role in the whole exercise has come into sharp focus with respect to another aspect. Many aviation industry insiders question the filling up of several top-level positions with people from non-aviation backgrounds — Tata-trusted aides and professionals, most of whom don't know too much more than a regular flier about the business. Other airlines have demonstrated the benefits of putting the right people in the cockpit — and the cost of putting the wrong ones. The Tatas don't need to look too far: AirAsia India is a glaring case in point.
Anjuli Bhargava writes about governance, infrastructure, and the social sector. The views expressed are personal