Why compete with yourself? For India’s Tata Group, owning both Air India and Vistara – the country’s two full service carriers – presented precisely that challenge. Now Air India and Vistara will merge, bringing a coherent competitive stance to the market, along with an additional cash infusion to boost operations.
Air India
Tata retakes Air India in privatization push
Nearly 70 years after Air India was nationalized, it will return to (a version of) its prior home. The government announced today that Tata Sons offered the successful bid for the privatization of the airline. The original operation was run by JRD Tata until the government took it over in 1953.
Air India losing money on 90%+ of its routes
Just how bad were things for Air India, even before the market collapsed in early 2020? According to the Minister of Civil Aviation the carrier lost money on 319 of the 340 routes it operated globally. Only 6% of the carrier’s network operations met costs for the twelve months from April 2019 through March 2020.
Air India switching to streaming, giving up on embedded IFE
Improving the passenger experience or driving a revenue boost? Why not both? Air India’s latest IFE plans hope to deliver improvements on both sides of the ledger.
Delta returns to Mumbai, launching from JFK in December
Delta Air Lines is bringing back its Mumbai service. The new service, launching in December, was announced with significant political overtones and brings the carrier into a busy market.