Air India managing director and CEO Campbell Wilson on Friday said the airline has entered the final leg of its evolution after spending 18 months under transformation plan called Vihaan.AI, that was launched in September 2022.

‘Taxiing, Take-off and Climb’ were the names given to the near-to-mid term phases of the transformation journey for the former flag carrier, which was bought by the Tata group in early 2022.

Air India inducted 29 narrow and wide-body aircraft during FY24 as part of its fleet expansion plans. It also launched 16 new routes and added five international destinations. The airline also hired more than 3,800 flying and 1,950 non-flying employees till March 2024.

But the biggest move by it was the order placement of 470 aircraft with Boeing and Airbus for narrow and wide-body planes whose deliveries have already begun with the A350s.

“The start of a new financial year marks the transition from the Take-Off phase of Vihaan.AI to Climb, where we put the foundations and capabilities we’ve built over the last 18 months to work accelerating and growing toward our ambition of being a world class, global airline with an Indian heart,” Wilson said in his letter to Air India employees.

Air India is in the process of merging group carrier Vistara with itself to make one large full-service carrier entity where partner Singapore Airlines will hold a 25.1% stake. Both entities are hoping to close the deal within FY25.

“The end of FY24 also caps off the annual appraisal cycle which has been underway for some time, as well as allows us to tally our annual financial results,” Wilson added.

“Our finance and HR colleagues are busy compiling the numbers which will, amongst other things, determine increments and, once the counting, reporting, auditing and board approvals are complete in a few weeks’ time, we’ll share the news and ensure that changes are made effective from April 1,” Wilson added.

Air India’s third A350 started service on the important Mumbai-Delhi trunk route, and two new A320s have also joined its fleet. It onboarded the first batch of cadet pilots who will commence ground training with our partner flying schools in the US later this month.

Its cabin crew team also cleared the backlog of training batches and marked the release-to-service of its 4000th new crew member since the takeover with the average age being 28 years.