Air India's aircraft fleet reliability has improved: CEO Campbell Wilson

Air India CEO Campbell Wilson on Thursday said that the airline's fleet reliability has improved and there is also an increased inventory of spares and components.

The Tata Group-owned airline has faced issues with its legacy fleet of wide-body Boeing 777s and 787 planes, resulting in flight cancellations and delays. The upgradation of the legacy Boeing 787s has commenced.

During a town hall with employees on Thursday, Wilson said operational resilience is one of the airline's focus areas and that there is enhanced fleet reliability now.

Both legacy Boeing fleets continue to show improvements as more reliability upgrades are carried out, he said, adding that the inventory of spares and components has gone up.

The airline has been doing replacement and upgrade of components to ensure that the aircraft are more reliable.

The CEO and MD of the airline also said that over 50 per cent of its wide-body fleet would be modernised by the end of 2026, while the wide-body modernisation is expected to be completed by December 2028.

According to Wilson, the airline group aims to grow its aircraft fleet from around 300 now to over 500 in 2030.

The group comprises Air India and Air India Express.

Loss-making Air India, which was privatised in January 2022, is in the midst of an ambitious transformation plan.