Air India CEO Campbell Wilson spoke exclusively with NDTV.
Air India is set to wind up its association with Turkish Technic, a leading global aviation service provider, that provides comprehensive maintenance for Boeing 777 aircraft in the airline's fleet.
''If there is a concern about continuing to do business in this fashion, then we'll find alternatives,'' said Campbell Wilson, Air India's CEO and MD, who confirmed to NDTV that the airline was ending its association with Turkish Technic. ''I think we want to respect public sentiment.''
The Air India announcement comes within days of the Civil Aviation Ministry telling IndiGo, India's largest airline, that it will not be allowed to operate two aircraft that it has wet-leased from Turkish Airlines beyond three months. Earlier, the government had cancelled the security clearance of Celebi, a Turkey-linked aviation ground handling services company that has been present in nine airports in the country.
The government's moves are a reaction to Turkey's support for Pakistan, which New Delhi has targeted with strikes on terror centres and air bases during Operation Sindoor. Turkish-made drones were also used by Pakistan in military operations against India. New Delhi's message is clear - there cannot, presently, be any 'business as usual' arrangement with Turkish companies given Ankara's support for Pakistan.
Explaining the tie-up with Turkish Technic, Mr Wilson said, ''We have committed some aircraft which are already under maintenance. And for alternatives that are about to go into maintenance, we're looking for alternative providers to perform the service instead.'' Maintenance, repair and overhaul services for Air India's long-haul Boeing 777 fleet are presently carried out at the Air India Engineering Services Limited (AIESL), a public sector undertaking which belongs to the government. Some aircraft are also being sent to Abu Dhabi and Singapore.
"AIESL was really the only game in town. And they don't have the capacity to perform the basic maintenance as well as the rehabilitation and retrofit that we're currently undertaking. So we've had to send aircraft out of India and some to AIESL, into many locations."
The recent military hostilities between India and Pakistan have also had a direct bearing on Air India's long-haul services. With airspace over Pakistan shut to Indian-owned airlines, some of Air India's flights to North America are having to operate on different, longer routes. Some non-stop services have now become one-stop flights to refuel aircraft.
"There is a significant additional cost,'' says Mr Wilson. "And ultimately, it does get passed on to the consumer, whether it's because there are fewer seats available to be offered and so the remaining seats have higher demand, or we just pass through the actual cost increase that we're incurring. So we all hope that this normalises as quickly as possible, but it's out of our hands."
Mr Wilson, though, disagrees with suggestions that the airspace ban over Pakistan has significantly disrupted Air India's long-haul offerings. "So I'd push back on that. I think there are only three cities that we're not currently operating nonstop. Every other flight that we have previously operated is continuing to operate nonstop. So the customer proposition of a convenient nonstop service by an Indian carrier to North America remains."
That said, some flights are taking longer -- between an hour to three hours, depending on the city where the aircraft is headed. "But that is still much more convenient than transiting through somewhere in between," says Mr Campbell.
