Tata Group’s airline Air India has made it clear that despite huge losses and increasing challenges, it will not stop its expansion plans. The company aims to increase the capacity of existing flights, connect new international cities and make India a global aviation hub in the next 5 years.
According to ET report, Air India’s Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Nipun Aggarwal said that the company wants every major city of the world to be directly connected to India. He says that the aim is to make Air India such an airline that every Indian can be proud of.
Order for more than 600 aircraft
air india Had ordered 470 new aircraft from Airbus and Boeing in 2023. After this, the company decided to buy 300 more aircraft in 2024. That means a total of 770 new aircraft have been ordered. Most of these aircraft are yet to be delivered to the airline. Through these new aircraft, the company will start new flights and will also increase the number of flights on many existing routes.
Expansion will continue despite huge losses
Recently, the board of Tata Sons had expressed concern over the continuously increasing losses of Air India. There was even discussion on postponing the delivery of some aircraft. Tata Group had bought Air India from the government in 2022, but the airline suffered a loss of more than Rs 27,000 crore in the financial year 2026-27.
Why did the loss increase?
There are many big reasons for Air India’s losses. The biggest problem is the closure of Pakistan’s airspace. Due to this, Air India flights going to Europe and America have to travel a long distance. Longer flights mean higher fuel consumption, increased maintenance costs and increased flight operating costs. Apart from this, due to the ongoing tension in West Asia, aviation fuel has also become very expensive. Due to these reasons, Air India had to cancel more than 100 flights every day during June, July and August.
Flights are starting again
Nipun Aggarwal said that many of the flights which were temporarily stopped have been restarted and the rest will also be started soon. He said that this cut was only for some time and now the services are being restored when the situation becomes normal. Air India believes that if Pakistan’s airspace remains closed for a long time, Indian airlines may have to change their plans. However, the company hopes that like before, this problem will also be resolved soon.
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