One of the crash victims, 14-year-old Akash Patni, is mourned by his family and neighbors as they wait for his body. Days after the devastating Air India-171 crash killed at least 270 people, investigators from across the world are putting their heads together to find out what exactly went wrong. So far, there is no indication of where the fault lies, and it could take months before we have an answer.
But as the waiting game begins, the Tata Group - which owns the airline along with other iconic brands such as Jaguar Land Rover and Tetley Tea – confronts a litany of unprecedented challenges at a critical juncture of the carrier's ambitious turnaround.
In the days leading up to the tragedy, Air India's narrative was just beginning to shift. In the hands of a new private owner - the Tatas bought the airline from the government in 2022 – Air India showed an operating profit, better revenues and fewer customer complaints.
Although disgruntlement about poor service standards, dysfunctional in-house entertainment and flight delays hadn't entirely gone away, there was an understanding that these were niggling transition troubles as the airline undertook multiple complex mergers to streamline its operations.
Cosmetically the improvements were beginning to show too; slick new livery and retrofitted interiors on some aircraft, brand-new A-350s in the fleet deployed on key routes and a record-breaking order for new planes to retire old ones and service India's booming aviation market.
After years of neglect when Air India was under state ownership, the Tatas said earlier this year that they'd embarked on the "final climb phrase" of the carrier's transformation journey towards becoming a "world class" airline.
Last week's horrific crash has now cast a shadow on these plans.
New A-350s were added to the fleet and Tata Air India underwent a brand transformation with sleek new livery. During the past week, individuals who were overcome with panic and fear were heard saying, "I'll never fly Air India again." Experts say that when a crash of this magnitude occurs, this knee-jerk reaction was to be expected, despite the fact that Air India and the Dreamliners it operated have a strong safety record. This loss of passenger confidence could derail the turnaround efforts that were already under way.
This month's rash of other reported incidents, such as engines developing suspected technical issues and a hoax bomb threat on a plane carrying 156 passengers from Phuket to Delhi, could exacerbate the situation. "There will definitely be a short-term impact where people may be wary of flying Air India. The disaster was very tragic, many lives have been lost and the event will stay in people's memories for long," said Jitendra Bhargava, a former executive director with the airline.
"We are already hearing of cancelled bookings," Shukor Yusof, founder and analyst at Singapore-based Endau Analytics, told the BBC.
"Air India was a difficult flag carrier to turn around, to begin with, bogged down by legacy and financial issues. They will need to take a break as they deal with the tragedy's aftermath, and this [the turnaround] will probably take longer than management had anticipated." Mr. Yusof asserts that in the coming weeks, months, and even years, a significant amount of resources will need to be redirected to non-operational issues related to the crash, such as insurance, legal, and reputational damage. He said that Malaysia Airlines took a full decade to turn a profit after the unprecedented 2014 twin tragedies, drawing parallels with those events. Air India will require time to "heal" too, he said, whereas the advantage of the exceptional growth in air travel in India "may now go to its rivals".
The strain on operations is already beginning to show. Due to increased airspace restrictions and enhanced safety inspections, Air India has announced that it will reduce international service cancellations on its wide-body aircraft by 15% until mid-July.
The crash means the turnaround will likely take more time than earlier envisaged, experts say
Meanwhile, the investigation - and what it potentially throws up - will continue to hang over the airline.
With authorities from the UK, US and India overseeing various safety inspections and regulatory aspects of the investigation, the airline will be under intense global scrutiny, according to Mark Martin, an aviation expert.
"Questions will be raised about operational and aircraft maintenance issues, and about what Air India has done to fix its old fleet," he said.
The most critical step after any crisis is the recovery action and consistent communication around it, says Mitu Samar Jha, whose firm offers risk and reputation advice to companies and corporate leaders in Mumbai. And Air India will need to make sure it doesn't get this wrong.
In a sense it is a triple whammy for the Tatas, who have the tough job of fielding questions on the fleet they inherited after acquiring Air India from the government, for Boeing's continuing troubles and their own maintenance and safety standards, she says.
According to Ms. Jha, "investigations to identify the cause, corrective measures, and enhanced safety standards will follow soon." However, "from the reputation lens, I hope they consistently communicate, and that too authentically." Often, companies focus a lot on action post crisis but "fail to regularly update the larger world on the progress. This results in the formation of incorrect perspectives and loss of control over the narrative, aggravating the reputation loss", she adds.
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