Air India will shut down if not sold within 6 Months, It has been struggling to find a buyer and remained unsold in a previous attempt by the government to sell it, The Indian Aviation sector is already experiencing a lot of trouble and can’t afford this, as we have already lost Jet Airways, and also the fact that Air India is our Flag Carrier, Air India has been struggling with its finances recently and a lot of pilots are resigning recently due to the uncertainty of the future and they don’t want to be jobless like most of the ex-Jet Airways Crew.
Air India A320neo seen at Jodhpur Airport in May(Pic Credits: Myself)
Air India also does not have enough funds to replace engines on many of it Airbus A320s which are grounded for that reason. If Air India shuts, The largest International Airline will be IndiGo, followed by SpiceJet, GoAir, Vistara and Air India Express(Assuming it’ll be still flying).
Well that’s a massive blow to Indian aviation. Hope Air India gets a buyer to save them. Or may some of the minor airlines grow and take shares in Air India for themselves?
Vistara has a couple of 787s on order but it’ll still take time to fill the gap left if Air India collapses. Always sad to see an airline in danger of closing shop. Wish then all the best.
But without flights they cannot make their debts… All major hubs are on the verge of closure due to visibility…primarily this season being important the weather is not good …
Vistara also took at least 2 ex-Hainan Air 787s which were also coloured in Vistara livery some time ago and they’ll be delivered soon(I guess by March-April)
Honestly after taking a look at a bit of history, it seems that both air India and jet airways were but in a position due to debt.
Air India had the time to learn how to not be put into the same situation at Jet airways, but they didn’t take the opportunity to learn from the mistakes that Jet airways did.
I would personally put the airline to sleep rather then striving to somehow be bought by an airline, and seek governmental help (which wouldn’t happen) and take a Long time to recover.
They’ve had their time. Why didn’t they use it correctly? It’s understandable considering the living standards and weather in India as pointed Out by @Hari aren’t the best for major Hubs to work out, but yet again it would one way or another still be hard for air India to recover, no matter the situation.
If Air India were to fail, it’s long haul operations would be taken over by each countries respective carriers. Inky their domestic operations could realistically be replaced by India’s own carriers. BA, AA, Emirates etc etc will simply increase the number of flights to make up for AI’s collapse. India will not benefit from this
Honestly, in my opinion, I’m glad about this. The only thing that’s upsetting about this is that the good people (eg, cabin crew, pilots) in there are going to be jobless. Never flown with them, but I’ve seen many reviews. Most are negative, the rest state that it was an adequate experience. The way they treat their customers along with their employees is rather repulsive. Remember that incident where they were forcing their staff to lose weight and putting them on a compulsory diet?
IndiGo will be the biggest airline in India (already is). SpiceJet and Vistara will begin to grow. Most international flights to U.S. will go from the G3, known as the Gulf 3 (Qatar, Etihad, Emirates). They have already dominated the North America-India market.
For Europe, British Airways and Lufthansa are the two main options (less of Air France). And then for Asia, it’s Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, and China Southern.
India basically doesn’t have a international airline except for Air India. The other airlines have two to three international flights. Air India only has 9 profitable flights daily
