Air India shores up revenue to record level, cuts losses

Air India CEO Campbell Wilson
| Photo Credit: JAIMI JOY

 Air India, the full service carrier in the Tata Sons fold, shored up its revenue to a record level of ₹61,000 crore in the financial year 2025 and clocked a profit excluding exceptional items in the second half of the fiscal year as the airline advances towards becoming “a self-sustaining” company, CEO Campbell Wilson informed employees during a townhall last week, said multiple sources.

Air India’s losses, too, have reduced by more than 40% since the privatisation of the erstwhile national carrier in January 2022 as it aims to achieve break-even.

The revenue figures signal a 40% compounded annual growth rate since 2022 and a 13% surge since fiscal 2024, multiple sources privy to the details disseminated said.

The airline’s operating profitability, or EBITDAR (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, Amortization and Rent or Restructuring), has also grown 1.59 times over the previous fiscal and four times over the past three years.

However, the low-cost arm of the Air India Group, Air India Express, which was included in the sale of Air India to Tata Sons, has some distance to cover after completing the merger with AirAsia India and rapidly expanding its fleet last year. 

Last month, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson spoke to The Hindu about the airline’s financial performance without divulging any numbers and said, “on the full-service carrier side, we’re very happy with the trajectory. It has been good progress. The low-cost carrier went from 25 aircraft to over 100 aircraft in a very short span of time, and that rate of growth was quite astonishing. So, it does take a while to digest and optimise and they have a little bit more work to do.” The combined fleet of the merged entity grew from 54 aircraft to 115 aircraft since September 2023.

Air India’s financial performance signals its progress towards being a “self-sustaining” company, Mr Wilson said during his presentation to the employees, it is reliably learnt.

Air India’s fleet size grew to 205 aircraft during FY 2025, and it flew a total of 4.35 crore passengers. Though the fleet expansion will remain flat for the financial year 2026 for the entire group, in the year FY2027- 28 it is expected to add two aircraft per week, doubling the pace seen since September 2023 of an aircraft every week for the group.

However, headwinds remain in the form of tensions on Indo-Pakistan border, conflicts in other parts of the world, impact of trade tariffs by the U..S, even while there is some relief on fuel and forex. In the above-cited interview, Mr. Wilson said that Air India has requested a subsidy worth $600 million annually from the government because of the financial hit it will incur due to the closure of Pakistan’s airspace and the resultant re-routings undertaken by the airline for its west-bound flights.