<p>Gurugram: Air India, which has embarked on a transformation path, expects to complete the upgradation of all legacy wide body aircraft by mid 2027, its chief Campbell Wilson said on Tuesday and mentioned that the aviation market worldwide is likely to remain "supply constrained" for another four to five years.</p>.<p>The Air India CEO and MD also said the repainting and refurbishing of Vistara aircraft is expected to be completed in one-and-a-half years.</p>.<p>Full service carrier Vistara was merged with Air India last year.</p>.<p>Asserting that refit of aircraft is the number one priority for the airline, Wilson said refit of the legacy Boeing 777 planes was supposed to start last year but there were seat supply issues. "We are now pulling these aircraft through heavy refresh programme." "By early mid 2027, all of the legacy wide body aircraft will be upgraded... still slower than we would have liked," Wilson said and pointed out that there are supply chain constraints as well as challenges with respect to the number of aircraft that can be taken out of service at any point of time.</p>.Centre to serve show cause notice to Air India on wheelchair non-availability to elderly woman.<p>Meanwhile, Air India plans to have first class cabin in some of the new aircraft in the coming years, with Wilson saying, "we do see a place for first class... and it is work in progress".</p>.<p>At present, some of the legacy B777 planes of Air India have first class cabins.</p>.<p>"First class is actually less profitable product than business class... We are obviously positioning ourselves as a Tier 1 airline," he said while speaking at the Skift India Forum here.</p>.<p>Skift is a travel industry intelligence platform.</p>.<p>Since Tata Group started piloting Air India, the airline has placed orders for 570 new aircraft.</p>.<p>While talking about the supply situation, the airline chief said there are pinch points everywhere such as there are no engines for some narrow body aircraft, there are issues with seat suppliers as well as availability of components and parts of fuselage.</p>.<p>"Reality is that it is going to remain a supply-constrained market, not just for Air India, India, (I am) talking about worldwide... for another 4-5 years," Wilson said.</p>.<p>Air India expects to refit all of the 27 A320 neo aircraft by the third quarter of this year.</p>.<p>Under the USD 400 million retrofit programme for narrow body and wide body planes, the first retrofitted A320 neo plane is back in operations.</p>.<p>The retrofit schedule will see more legacy aircraft, including 40 wide body B787 and B777 planes, undergoing makeover with the first B787 flying out for retrofit next month, the airline said in a release.</p>.<p>On the sidelines of the event, in response to a PTI query on how the airline plans to address the supply constraint situation, Wilson on Tuesday said, "we are victims of the circumstances as is every other airline".</p>.<p>"If you are capacity constrained, you have to be little bit ruthless with respect to where you deploy your aircraft to maximise the returns. It means you can't expand to places that otherwise you would like to expand. It is not a lot that you can do beyond that.</p>.<p>"We can try to lease aircraft from the external market but every other airline is trying to do it. Getting one or two aircraft which has a different configuration from the rest of the fleet adds to the complexity rather than advancing you. It is a very significant challenge for the industry as a whole," he said.</p>.<p>Loss-making Air India, which was taken over by the Tata Group from the government in January 2022, is undergoing an ambitious five-year transformation plan.</p>.<p>As the Indian market grows, Wilson said that he thinks there will be an increased demand for premium travel and also at the same time, it is a market where many people are travelling for the first time.</p>.<p>"We are seeing a continued improvement in yields and premium travel," he said.</p>.<p>In response to a query about global economic uncertainties and their impact on the airline, Wilson said it is largely insulated due to a few reasons, including that India is growing fast organically.</p>.<p>"Anything that impacts the global economy is a concern for us. I think we are largely insulated from that for a few reasons. One is that India is growing fast organically and we have a lot of catch up to do in respect of market share of Indian carriers, Air India in particular.</p>.<p>"... I think our problem is actually one that of supply rather than demand... Even if there is a global slowdown, we still have a lot of opportunities," the Air India chief noted.</p>
<p>Gurugram: Air India, which has embarked on a transformation path, expects to complete the upgradation of all legacy wide body aircraft by mid 2027, its chief Campbell Wilson said on Tuesday and mentioned that the aviation market worldwide is likely to remain "supply constrained" for another four to five years.</p>.<p>The Air India CEO and MD also said the repainting and refurbishing of Vistara aircraft is expected to be completed in one-and-a-half years.</p>.<p>Full service carrier Vistara was merged with Air India last year.</p>.<p>Asserting that refit of aircraft is the number one priority for the airline, Wilson said refit of the legacy Boeing 777 planes was supposed to start last year but there were seat supply issues. "We are now pulling these aircraft through heavy refresh programme." "By early mid 2027, all of the legacy wide body aircraft will be upgraded... still slower than we would have liked," Wilson said and pointed out that there are supply chain constraints as well as challenges with respect to the number of aircraft that can be taken out of service at any point of time.</p>.Centre to serve show cause notice to Air India on wheelchair non-availability to elderly woman.<p>Meanwhile, Air India plans to have first class cabin in some of the new aircraft in the coming years, with Wilson saying, "we do see a place for first class... and it is work in progress".</p>.<p>At present, some of the legacy B777 planes of Air India have first class cabins.</p>.<p>"First class is actually less profitable product than business class... We are obviously positioning ourselves as a Tier 1 airline," he said while speaking at the Skift India Forum here.</p>.<p>Skift is a travel industry intelligence platform.</p>.<p>Since Tata Group started piloting Air India, the airline has placed orders for 570 new aircraft.</p>.<p>While talking about the supply situation, the airline chief said there are pinch points everywhere such as there are no engines for some narrow body aircraft, there are issues with seat suppliers as well as availability of components and parts of fuselage.</p>.<p>"Reality is that it is going to remain a supply-constrained market, not just for Air India, India, (I am) talking about worldwide... for another 4-5 years," Wilson said.</p>.<p>Air India expects to refit all of the 27 A320 neo aircraft by the third quarter of this year.</p>.<p>Under the USD 400 million retrofit programme for narrow body and wide body planes, the first retrofitted A320 neo plane is back in operations.</p>.<p>The retrofit schedule will see more legacy aircraft, including 40 wide body B787 and B777 planes, undergoing makeover with the first B787 flying out for retrofit next month, the airline said in a release.</p>.<p>On the sidelines of the event, in response to a PTI query on how the airline plans to address the supply constraint situation, Wilson on Tuesday said, "we are victims of the circumstances as is every other airline".</p>.<p>"If you are capacity constrained, you have to be little bit ruthless with respect to where you deploy your aircraft to maximise the returns. It means you can't expand to places that otherwise you would like to expand. It is not a lot that you can do beyond that.</p>.<p>"We can try to lease aircraft from the external market but every other airline is trying to do it. Getting one or two aircraft which has a different configuration from the rest of the fleet adds to the complexity rather than advancing you. It is a very significant challenge for the industry as a whole," he said.</p>.<p>Loss-making Air India, which was taken over by the Tata Group from the government in January 2022, is undergoing an ambitious five-year transformation plan.</p>.<p>As the Indian market grows, Wilson said that he thinks there will be an increased demand for premium travel and also at the same time, it is a market where many people are travelling for the first time.</p>.<p>"We are seeing a continued improvement in yields and premium travel," he said.</p>.<p>In response to a query about global economic uncertainties and their impact on the airline, Wilson said it is largely insulated due to a few reasons, including that India is growing fast organically.</p>.<p>"Anything that impacts the global economy is a concern for us. I think we are largely insulated from that for a few reasons. One is that India is growing fast organically and we have a lot of catch up to do in respect of market share of Indian carriers, Air India in particular.</p>.<p>"... I think our problem is actually one that of supply rather than demand... Even if there is a global slowdown, we still have a lot of opportunities," the Air India chief noted.</p>