After decades of decline, Air India is betting billions on a comeback

CEO Campbell Wilson says journey to restoring Air India’s reputation is ‘well under way’.

Air India was once so renowned for its service that Singapore’s founding statesman Lee Kuan Yew used the airline as a blueprint for launching the city-state’s own flag carrier in the early 1970s.

In recent decades, India’s national airline came to be seen as a cautionary tale of decline as it racked up billions of dollars in losses and battled a reputation for tardiness and poor service.

When the Tata Group bought the company in October 2021, returning control to the wealthy Tata family after decades of state ownership, CEO Natarajan Chandrasekaran laid out a clear objective: “To build a world-class airline”.

Tasked with leading this mission is Air India CEO Campbell Wilson, who was recruited from Singapore’s low-cost airline Scoot in 2022 to turn around the carrier, founded in 1932 by French-Indian aviator entrepreneur JRD Tata.

“Standards have slipped considerably over the years,” Wilson told Al Jazeera in an exclusive interview.

But Wilson is adamant that “the journey to restoring Air India to its former glory is well under way” under a five-year turnaround plan unveiled last year.

The Tata Group has spent tens of billions in transforming the company in recent years, investing in 470 new aircraft, cabin modernisation, a brand refresh and customer service changes.

After the “capital-intensive” five-year plan is completed, Air India hopes to capitalise on the huge growth potential of the Indian aviation market, the world’s third-largest with some 145 million domestic passengers annually.

The Tata Group’s initial priority has been its ageing fleet, the upkeep of which has been neglected for decades.

Shortly after the ownership