Air India on Thursday said it has on-boarded more than 3,800 staff across crew and other functions, and rolled out more than 29 new policies for employees in the last six months, as part of initiatives under its five-year transformation plan.
Loss-making Air India, which has been piloted by the Tata Group since January last year, is investing $200 million in information technology systems and $400 million in refurbishing existing aircraft.
It has also placed orders for 470 planes.
Transformation plan
'Taxi', the first phase of the transformation plan Vihaan.AI, that focussed on "addressing legacy issues at scale and laying the foundation for future growth" has concluded, the airline said, and added that the second phase 'Take Off', that will focus on developing the platforms, processes and systems needed to build toward excellence, has commenced.
Air India CEO and MD, Campbell Wilson, said during the first six months of the transformation journey, the airline made progress on many issues that had built up over the years, and had established the foundations for growth.
"Our record-setting aircraft order, the commitment of $400 million to completely refurbish existing aircraft, the investment of $200 million in new IT, and the recruitment of thousands of staff, are a few of the significant investments made to give Air India a boost.
"As we move into our Take Off phase, we will start seeing these investments bear fruit," he said in a release.
The second phase will also witness the consolidation of AirAsia India and Air India Express; the airlines have already merged their core reservations platforms, websites, and customer-facing systems.
"Vistara will also be merged with Air India following the grant of regulatory approval. The development of a world-class training academy will also take shape, as also the future direction and configuration of the airline's line and base maintenance," the release said.
Apart from launching premium economy seats for the first time on select long-haul flights, Air India has revamped its menus on international and domestic routes.
The airline has also rolled out over 29 new policies for employee welfare, new remuneration programmes for legacy staff and "onboarded more than 3,800 employees across crew and other functions to support capability and growth," the release said.
Besides, the airline has expedited fleet expansion with 36 leased aircraft, including 11 wide-body planes being delivered in 2022-23, as well as "restored to service, or decommissioned pending sale, all long grounded aircraft".
Air India has achieved its highest-ever single-day passenger revenue, cargo revenue, ancillary revenue, and load factor, the release said.
Comprehensive spares and support agreements have been reached to improve worldwide reliability and a performance improvement programme is underway with Boeing to improve the reliability of 787 planes.
"In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) systems have been restored on nearly all first and business-class seats, with economy seats being up to nearly 90 per cent," the release said.
The airline has also reactivated more than 10 codeshare agreements in alliance discussions with other airlines.