Air India to reduce six flights per week to US, says CEO Campbell Wilson

Air India

Air India will reduce six flights per week to the US due to a shortage of crew, the airline's CEO Campbell Wilson said at the CAPA India Aviation Summit.

The carrier will stop three flights each to San Francisco and Newark airports for the next three months.

The Air India CEO said that the airline will add 100 B777 pilots soon. It will add 1700 captains out of which 140 are expats soon. There won't be any pilot shortages in the medium term (3-5 year) and will tap into the expat pool to meet any demand, Wilson added.

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Don't expect a shortage of pilots in the medium term (3-5) years

He said that the airline has taken significant steps to improve passenger experience.

He added that in the last one year more than 20 aircraft have been restored to service.

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On the new mega order of 470 aircrafts, he said that the aircrafts will be in service in the next one year.

New retrofitted wide body planes will be a part of Air India's fleet in the next one year, he added.

The Air India chief underlined the challenges due to the supply-side bottlenecks. He said refurbishment of Air India's current fleet has been slower than expected due to supply chain issues.

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Wilson also said that the airline is exploring ways to use ChatGPT as part of digital transformation.