More than 1,000 employees at Air India have been dismissed over the past three years for ethical misconduct, the airline’s chief executive, Campbell Wilson, told staff this week, underscoring the challenges of reshaping corporate culture at India’s flag carrier even as it battles mounting financial and operational pressures.
Speaking at an internal town hall, Wilson said the Tata Group-owned airline had taken disciplinary action against workers involved in offenses ranging from smuggling goods off aircraft and permitting unchecked excess baggage to abusing employee travel privileges.
“We sign a Tata code of conduct every year,†Wilson said. “Yet every year we are terminating hundreds of people for non-compliance.â€
The remarks offered a blunt assessment of the cultural overhaul underway at Air India, which has been in the midst of a sweeping transformation since its return to the Tata Group in 2022. The airline has embarked on one of the aviation industry’s most ambitious modernization programs, ordering hundreds of aircraft, revamping cabins and attempting to rebuild service standards after years of decline under state ownership.
But the effort is unfolding against a difficult backdrop for global aviation.
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Wilson said soaring fuel prices, geopolitical instability in the Gulf region and the continued closure of Pakistani airspace to Indian carriers had sharply increased operating costs and disrupted international schedules.
“Jet fuel prices have doubled,†he said, pointing also to the weakening rupee and softer consumer demand as additional pressures on the business.
The impact of restricted airspace has been particularly acute for westbound international routes. Flights from India to Europe and North America are now taking substantially longer, forcing airlines to burn more fuel and complicating crew scheduling.
“The normal flight time to the U.K. is eight-and-a-half hours,†Wilson said. “Last time I did it, it took nearly 12.â€
The airline also fell short of some of its internal financial goals in the last fiscal year. Wilson acknowledged that losses exceeded company projections, though he stressed profitability had never been expected at this stage of the turnaround.
“We weren’t targeting a profit this year,†he said. “We were targeting a certain amount of loss. We lost more than we were targeting to lose.â€
Even so, Air India continues to expand at scale. The airline group carried nearly 62 million passengers during the last financial year and operated roughly 8,000 weekly flights, while the full-service Air India business generated close to $6 billion in revenue, according to Wilson.
The carrier has also begun introducing retrofitted Boeing 787 aircraft as part of its fleet renewal strategy, a key component of its broader attempt to reposition itself as a world-class global airline.
Wilson pointed to operational initiatives aimed at improving efficiency, including fuel-saving measures that he said reduced costs by ₹140 crore over the year. The airline has also expanded hub-and-spoke connectivity at airports such as Delhi and Mumbai to simplify international transfers for domestic passengers.
Still, Wilson cautioned employees that the outlook for the aviation industry remained fragile.
“If the Straits of Hormuz open, oil starts flowing, oil prices fall, consumer confidence and business confidence come back, there’s a decent chance of a solid recovery,†he said.
“Unless those circumstances happen, I think it’s going to be a very, very difficult year.â€
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First Published on May 11, 2026, 00:11:01 IST
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