<\/p>
In his message in the Tata Sons Annual Report for 2025-26, Chandrasekaran acknowledged that Air India endured one of its toughest years yet. The airline had to navigate airspace closures, fuel price volatility triggered by conflict in West Asia, foreign exchange fluctuations and the devastating AI171 crash, which together tested its operational resilience.<\/p>
Despite these setbacks, he argued that the airline has continued to make meaningful progress.<\/p>
A turnaround measured beyond financials\u00a0<\/strong><\/p> The Tata Group inherited an airline burdened with ageing aircraft, outdated technology, inconsistent customer service and years of underinvestment when it took control from the government in January 2022.<\/p> According to Chandrasekaran, repairing those structural issues is a long-term exercise. The airline has had to contend with global supply chain disruptions delaying aircraft deliveries and spare parts while simultaneously rebuilding engineering capabilities, training thousands of aviation professionals and modernising legacy systems.<\/p> He stressed that successful global airlines were built over decades \u2014 not over a handful of financial quarters.<\/p> Signs of progress emerging\u00a0<\/strong><\/p> While the financial performance remains under pressure, Tata highlighted several operational improvements that it believes indicate the transformation is moving in the right direction.<\/p> Air India’s narrow-body fleet operating domestic routes has already undergone refurbishment, receiving positive customer feedback. The refurbishment of wide-body aircraft is expected to be completed by the end of FY28, a milestone expected to significantly improve the international travel experience.<\/p> Perhaps the strongest indicator cited by the company is customer satisfaction.<\/p> Air India’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) \u2014 a widely used measure of customer loyalty \u2014 has improved dramatically from -35 in FY23 to +42 by June 2026, suggesting passengers are beginning to notice improvements in service quality.<\/p> Financial challenges persist\u00a0<\/strong><\/p> The operational gains have yet to translate into profitability.\u00a0According to the annual report, Air India’s revenue declined to \u20b971,870 crore in FY26 from \u20b978,636 crore a year earlier.<\/p> The airline reported a loss after tax of \u20b915,367.75 crore, while Air India Express posted a loss of \u20b96,767.29 crore, underscoring the scale of investment still required to modernise the group’s operations.<\/p> The 2047 vision\u00a0<\/strong><\/p> For Chandrasekaran, however, the airline’s transformation is tied to a larger national ambition.<\/p> Looking ahead to 2047, the centenary of India’s independence, he envisioned an Air India aircraft carrying passengers around the world while increasingly reflecting India’s own industrial capabilities \u2014 from domestically manufactured components and semiconductor chips to indigenous defence technologies.<\/p> He pointed out that a country of 140 crore people and one of the world’s fastest-growing economies deserves a globally competitive flag carrier that serves as both an economic engine and a symbol of national capability.<\/p> The long-term objective, he said, extends beyond aviation itself: creating hundreds of thousands of jobs across aviation, tourism and logistics while positioning India as a global aviation hub rather than merely a transit market served by foreign airlines.<\/p> Air India’s revival has often been judged through aircraft orders, financial losses and service complaints. Chandrasekaran’s latest remarks suggest Tata wants the transformation evaluated through a different lens\u2014one that prioritises rebuilding institutional capability over short-term financial metrics.<\/p> <\/div> Air India, Tata Sons, N Chandrasekaran, Air India transformation, Tata Group, Air India turnaround, aviation, Indian aviation, Air India annual report, Air India FY26, Air India losses, Air India refurbishment, Net Promoter Score, Air India 2047, aviation hub, Singapore Airlines, Air India Express, Indian economy, airline industry, Tata Group aviation\u00a0#039Every #great #airline #built #decades039 #Tata #Sons #Chairman #Air #India039s #turnaround #mission1785168045<\/p> ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In his message in the Tata Sons Annual Report for 2025-26, Chandrasekaran acknowledged that Air India endured one of its toughest years yet. The airline had to navigate airspace closures, fuel price volatility triggered by conflict in West Asia, foreign exchange fluctuations and the devastating AI171 crash, which together tested its operational resilience. Despite these […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[49093,439,8638,49088,49084,39455,49085,33878,49086,49082,49083,3649,49091,11456,49089,13684,4566,49094,1195,1398,39019,4424,1888,30815,49087,49090,23948,2104,12564,49092,23946,49095],"class_list":["post-12600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content-marketing","tag-039every","tag-air","tag-air-india","tag-air-india-2047","tag-air-india-annual-report","tag-air-india-express","tag-air-india-fy26","tag-air-india-losses","tag-air-india-refurbishment","tag-air-india-transformation","tag-air-india-turnaround","tag-airline","tag-airline-industry","tag-aviation","tag-aviation-hub","tag-built","tag-chairman","tag-decades039","tag-great","tag-india039s","tag-indian-aviation","tag-indian-economy","tag-mission","tag-n-chandrasekaran","tag-net-promoter-score","tag-singapore-airlines","tag-sons","tag-tata","tag-tata-group","tag-tata-group-aviation","tag-tata-sons","tag-turnaround"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}