Source:BBC
Days after the devastating Air India-171 crash killed at least 270 people, investigators from across the world are putting their heads together to find out what exactly went wrong. So far, there is no indication of where the fault lies, and it could take months before we have an answer.
But as the waiting game begins, the Tata Group – which owns the airline along with other iconic brands such as Jaguar Land Rover and Tetley Tea – confronts a litany of unprecedented challenges at a critical juncture of the carrier’s ambitious turnaround.
The narrative was just beginning to change for Air India in the lead-up to the tragedy.
In the hands of a new private owner – the Tatas bought the airline from the government in 2022 – Air India showed an operating profit, better revenues and fewer customer complaints.
Although disgruntlement about poor service standards, dysfunctional in-house entertainment and flight delays hadn’t entirely gone away, there was an understanding that these were niggling transition troubles as the airline undertook multiple complex mergers to streamline its operations.
Cosmetically the improvements were beginning to show too; slick new livery and retrofitted interiors on some aircraft, brand-new A-350s in the fleet deployed on key routes and a record-breaking order for new planes to retire old ones and service India’s booming aviation market.
After years of neglect when Air India was under state ownership, the Tatas said earlier this year that they’d embarked on the “final climb phrase” of the carrier’s transformation journey towards becoming a “world class” airline.
Last week’s horrific crash has now cast a shadow on these plans.
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