Air India After Tata: The Transformation of India's National Carrier

History and positioning

After the return to private ownership in 2022, Air India completed in November 2024 the merger with Vistara, the premium airline born from the joint venture between Tata and Singapore Airlines, unifying the group's full-service offering under a single brand. It is a deep transformation process for a carrier that had suffered for years from underinvestment during public management.

The fleet

The fleet renewal plan announced by the Tata group envisages the acquisition of hundreds of new aircraft from Airbus and Boeing, one of the largest orders in the history of civil aviation, intended to gradually replace the older fleet inherited from the previous management on both domestic and intercontinental routes.

Routes and network

The network combines domestic connections between the main Indian cities with intercontinental routes to North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific, using Delhi and Mumbai as the main gateways to the subcontinent for transit passengers.

What passengers say

The post-merger transition period has brought mixed reviews: on one hand passengers report concrete improvements on some routes renewed with newer aircraft, on the other complaints persist about delays and consistency of service during the integration of the Air India and Vistara fleets. The sector in India was also marked by the serious accident of June 2025 in Ahmedabad, an event that led to stronger safety checks across all Indian civil aviation and to particularly high media attention on the carrier in the following months.

Air India today makes sense for those looking for a direct connection between India and Europe or North America with a product in the midst of renewal, but it is worth checking which type of aircraft is assigned to your specific route, because the fleet remains heterogeneous during the transition. It is not yet the most prudent choice for those who need maximum consistency of service on every leg, given the integration process still under way. A practical tip: check the aircraft model shown at booking, because on identical routes the difference in comfort between an already renewed aircraft and one from the previous fleet remains noticeable.