Campbell Wilson, CEO of Air India, emphasised the complexities of such a merger, which he described as one of the most challenging corporate integration processes.
“I think an airline merger is probably amongst the most complex of any corporate merger. You’ve got the regulatory side of things, in addition to the legal side of things, there’s a lot of staff, and you’re in 24/7 operation, so you’ve got aircraft in the air even at the point of merger,” Campbell Wilson said in an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18.
The integration of these airlines, which now operate under the Air India brand, has been a multi-faceted process. While Wilson acknowledged that achieving perfection takes time, he expressed satisfaction with the progress.
“It’s been a long, multifaceted process, and I’m I’m pleased with the way it’s gone. It’s never perfect. It takes a while to fully stabilise, but we’re now a 300 aircraft, 30,000 group organisation, carrying 60 million people a year on more than 300 routes,” Campbell Wilson said.
Reflecting on the scale of the transformation, Wilson said, “There are airlines that have gone from public ownership to private ownership. There’s airlines that have gone from a certain size adding 100 aircraft in two years. There’s airlines that have completely changed their IT structure, there’s airlines that have rebranded, there’s airlines that have refreshed their management team, there’s airlines that have built training academies and base maintenance. I could go on and on. There’s airlines that have merged but no one, I think, has done all of this at the same time,”
Wilson also praised the stakeholders involved in the merger, particularly the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Ministry of Civil Aviation, noting the significance of the integration for India’s aviation landscape.
“What takes airlines in other countries five to eight years was accomplished in India in just over two,” Wilson added, highlighting the remarkable speed of the merger.
However, the completion of the merger did not come without challenges. On November 13, 2024, many Air India flights were delayed, and some were even canceled at Delhi Airport. While the airline attributed the disruptions to unseasonably poor weather conditions, including smoke and fog, some speculated that the delays were due to post-merger teething issues.
Wilson referred to this period as a “fragile time” but reassured that operations had since stabilised.
“Well, operations have effectively stabilized. We actually did the merger on the 12th of November, deliberately to avoid both Diwali and the fog season. Unfortunately, on the 13th of November, we got very unseasonable smoke and fog in Delhi, which caused disruption for all airlines, which came at a very fragile time for us. And so it did take a couple of days to fully recover. But I think from an operations perspective, we are now operating normally,” Wilson said.
As Air India moves forward with the consolidation, the airline aims to continue its growth and improve its service delivery as it stabilises following this major transformation.
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