Air India is the Word of the Week: How a ‘high’ pilot is yet another low for the airline

Air India is grappling with turbulence. The Tata-owned airline is going through a credibility subject after considered one of its pilots reportedly examined constructive for marijuana after a Phuket-Delhi flight immediately plunged 300 ft in altitude the week earlier than.

However that’s not all. Air India can also be going through organisational woes; N Chandrasekaran, the Tata Sons chairman, has introduced his resignation whereas the airline itself has been making ready for a change on the prime and continues to be in the course of a expensive, multi-year transformation.

It’s due to these causes that our alternative for the Phrase of the Week is none aside from Air India — the beleaguered airline making an attempt to show its fortunes round.

Air India flight’s sudden plunge in altitude and credibility

Final Tuesday (August 4), an everyday Air India flight from Phuket to Delhi became a nightmare for these on board. Two-and-a-half-hours into Flight AI 2379, the aircraft immediately misplaced altitude throughout cruise, plunging 300 ft in a number of seconds.

Passengers recounting the ordeal acknowledged that one airhostess screamed on the prime of her lungs, whereas one other repeatedly pleaded over the general public tackle system: “Fasten your seatbelts.” By then, baggage had fallen from the overhead bins, with some passengers seen crouching of their seats whereas others tried to wish.

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As Shrikant Jha, one of many flyers, recounted in a CNBCTV18 report, “It was a really clean flight, and immediately we began feeling a really abrupt disturbance… a novel type of disturbance sound that began coming in. We had by no means skilled it. It was just a few noise for about 10 seconds, the plane was shaking after which a sudden drop.”

What adopted, he mentioned, was chaos contained in the cabin. “Every thing was flying… the service cart and every part… for about 30 to 40 seconds, we genuinely felt we had been gone.”

Later, when the aircraft landed, 20 on board reported accidents, with 17 of them being admitted to hospital.

At first, turbulence was guilty for the sudden lack of altitude. However investigations have revealed in any other case.

The pilot-in-command has reportedly tested positive for marijuana use after his first check gave a “non-negative” consequence. To make issues worse, he additionally revealed to investigators that he had been fighting sleep and was on sleep medicine prescribed by his household physician.

The captain informed the investigators that he slept for 30 to 35 minutes in the course of the flight, used the washroom and returned to face behind the primary officer. He was discussing the air con system when the altitude occasion occurred, and he was thrown to the cockpit ground.

The Air India aircraft additionally reportedly suffered multiple technical glitches. The aircraft’s post-flight Centralised Fault Show System log confirmed 9 warning messages showing inside a minute at 9.32 am IST, when the plane had crossed the Odisha coast after flying over the Bay of Bengal.

The warnings indicated low strain within the Inexperienced, Blue, and Yellow hydraulic methods, in numerous mixtures. Additionally they confirmed low reservoir ranges within the Yellow and Blue methods, an autopilot disconnect and an elevator flight-control fault.

Two emergency-exit door sensor warnings had been additionally recorded at 9.33 am and 9.35 am. No further warnings involving the hydraulic methods or elevator had been recorded for the next 43 minutes.

This complete incident has raised questions concerning the airline’s credibility, with the Ministry of Civil Aviation summoning the highest management of the Tata-owned airline for questioning.

N Chandrasekaran’s exit and its affect on Air India

This week served up a double whammy for Air India. Whereas the airline was specializing in harm management after its plane immediately plunged 300 ft, inflicting accidents to passengers and crew, information got here that Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran was resigning from his place.

The Tata Sons chairman made the large announcement on August 12, declaring that he wouldn’t search an extension and would exit following his tenure ending in February 2027.

Tata Sons Chairman, N Chandrasekaran arrives on the Tata Group Headquarters, a day after he introduced his resignation, in Mumbai. The exit of N Chandrasekaran is critical for Air India. File picture/Reuters

For Air India, N Chandrasekaran’s resignation comes as an enormous jolt. That’s as a result of it was underneath N Chandrasekaran that the Tata group expanded its aviation presence via the acquisition of Air India.

Because the acquisition of Air India, Chandrasekaran has been deeply dedicated to the airline and its future. And regardless of the losses that Air India has been struggling — the airline reported a web lack of Rs 22,238 crore in FY26, greater than double the Rs 10,859 crore loss reported a yr earlier — Chandrasekaran remained dedicated to the overhaul, noting that the turnaround shouldn’t be judged by short-term monetary efficiency and that rebuilding the airline would take a number of years. In actual fact, in July, Chandrasekaran cautioned shareholders that Air India’s turnaround may take 5 to 10 years. “Given the place it started, Air India’s transformation have to be seen as a five- to 10-year journey,” he famous in an announcement accompanying Tata Sons’ FY26 annual report.

For Air India, the important thing query now could be whether or not the Tata Group can keep the momentum of the transformation with out Chandrasekaran personally on the helm of Tata Sons, as Moneycontrol reported.

The rise, fall, and rise of the Maharaja

The 2 incidents this week are vital moments in Air India’s lengthy and storied journey. The origins of Air India will be traced again to 1932 when it was began by JRD Tata.

JRD himself was a flying fanatic, being among the many first in India to obtain a pilot’s licence.

JRD Tata started Air India again in 1932. At present, Air India is the oldest working airline in India. Picture Courtesy: Tata.com

Initially, Tata Air Companies began out by transporting mail however rapidly grew, increasing into passenger operations and opening up new routes. In 1938, the airline was renamed Tata Airways and expanded internationally for the primary time, including service to Colombo, Sri Lanka, to its route community. Earnings had additionally grown tenfold by this level, highlighting the airline’s ongoing success.

In 1946, Tata Airways was transformed right into a public firm and its title was modified to Air India. It’s reported that JRD Tata was utterly towards the concept of nationalisation. He was of the view that the federal government of India had no expertise in working an airline firm, and nationalisation would imply paperwork and lethargy, a decline in worker morale and a fall in passenger providers. However regardless of his apprehensions, on 8 March 1948, Air-India Worldwide was formally integrated with 49 per cent capital participation from the Authorities of India.

Years later, in 1989, the Tatas’ tryst with Air India got here to an finish.

Within the ensuing years, Air India continued to develop within the skies — including extra routes throughout the globe. However the nationwide provider started to endure vital monetary losses. This prompted the Atal Bihari Vajpayee authorities in 2001 to try to privatise Air India. Nevertheless, the federal government failed to take action. Moreover, as India liberalised its aviation trade, Air India started to face growing competitors from new, dynamic airways such because the low-cost provider IndiGo.

As Air India losses continued to mount, the Narendra Modi authorities determined to promote all the 100 per cent stake and issued an Expression of Curiosity (EOI) to ask bidders in 2020. A yr later, in October, life got here full circle for Air India because the Tatas announced that it had won the bid for the airline.

Wreckage of the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft sits on the open floor, outdoors Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Worldwide Airport, the place it took off and crashed close by shortly afterwards, in Ahmedabad, India. File picture/Reuters

However the Tata takeover of Air India hasn’t been all clean crusing. The most important setback of all of them got here on June 12, 2025, when Air India Flight AI-171 flying from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick crashed shortly after take-off, killing 260 folks.

The crash introduced intense scrutiny, and the airline regulator warned Air India over repeated crew-rostering lapses.

And the setbacks continued in 2026 because of the US and Iran conflict. As a sizeable a part of the Gulf was plunged into turmoil, Air India was pressured to curtail its worldwide operations as soon as once more. Its prices ballooned as gasoline costs jumped and the rupee weakened.

Its management additionally has been hit. In April, Air India confirmed that CEO Campbell Wilson would step down in 2026 — a yr earlier than his time period was to finish.

The query now stays — Can Air India trip out this turbulence? Solely time will inform.