Aviation: Air India turnaround could take up to a decade, says Tata Sons chief
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Tata Sons has said Air India’s turnaround could take up to a decade, extending the timeline for the carrier’s turnaround, the media reported on Tuesday.
Tata Sons Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran said this in the company’s annual report released late on Monday.
The Tata Group had acquired the ailing Air India and its entities from the government in October 2021 for Rs. 18,000 crores (USD 2.4 billion).
Tata Sons’ comment comes as the country’s second largest airline after IndiGo grapples with air space closures, higher fuel costs due to the ongoing conflict in West Asia, and the fallout from a deadly plane crash last year that killed nearly 260 people in June 2025 in Ahmedabad.
The airline’s turnaround will take time due to persistent supply-chain disruptions in key components, the need to overhaul legacy systems, culture, fleet and efforts to build a larger technical and airline workforce, Chandrasekaran said.
The revised timeline marks a departure from Vihaan.AI, the five-year plan unveiled in September 2022 by then Chief Executive and Managing Director Campbell Wilson. He will step down as Air India’s CEO on September 30 after serving his notice period. The company is yet to announce his successor.
Air India reported a wider net loss of Rs. 22,238 crore (USD 2.32 billion) in 2025-26, compared with RS. 10,859 crore a year earlier.
India’s airline industry has rebounded strongly since the pandemic but profitability remains under pressure from high costs, supply-chain constraints and fierce price competition.
