Business
Archived — This article has been archived. The information may be outdated.
Air India CEO weighs folding Express after ₹22,000 crore loss
Business Standard··19 Sept
Incoming Air India CEO Tewolde Gebremariam is considering folding Air India Express into the group to cut costs, people familiar with the matter said. Air India posted a ₹22,000 crore loss in the year through March. Tewolde questioned running two airlines with separate permits. Combining them would need supervisory board approval. Express would keep its brand name.
Prism
What It Means For You
- A single operating permit could reduce duplicate managers, engineers and administrative staff.
- Tata Sons faces a regulatory push to list while backing Air India's loss-making operations.
- Pakistani airspace closures and Middle East conflict have raised fuel and routing costs.
What's Happening
- Air India merged with Indian Airlines in 2007 and Tata consolidated four brands into two in 2022.
- Tewolde built Ethiopian Airlines into Africa's largest carrier before joining Air India.
- An Air India spokesperson did not respond to emailed questions from Business Standard.
Tewolde's early priorities at Air India
- He earlier flagged low cargo load use compared with Ethiopian Airlines' freight business.
- Air India faces a probe after a pilot in an altitude-drop incident tested positive for illegal drugs.
- Singapore Airlines is Tata's equity partner in the airline group.
all-news
