Air India reorganising well under Tatas: Airbus official

Doha: Air India is clearly reorganising itself under the “able stewardship” of the Tata Group and wants to invest in new planes to regain international passenger market share, the Chief Commercial Officer of Airbus said here on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the annual general meeting of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) held here, Christian Scherer was asked whether Air India had finalised the A350 aircraft order with Airbus.

“I will not comment on that,” the Chief Commercial Officer of the European Aerospace company said in response. His remarks came after it was reported last week that the Tata Group-owned Air India has decided to procure its maiden batch of widebodied A350 aircraft from Airbus and the first plane is likely to be delivered to the airline by March 2023.

However, it was not immediately clear how many A350 aircraft will be purchased by Air India. “Air India is clearly reorganising itself under the very able stewardship of the Tatas and as such, it is very natural that they contemplate an investment in new fleets, new airplanes, if only to regain more sovereignty, more market share, for an Indian carrier in the international market,” Scherer said. —PTI