Air India is going to dismantle the regional command structure of the airline and shift to a central headquarter as the new owners, Tata Sons, work on consolidating its airline business.
The airline currently has four regional headquarters headed by four regional directors. Air India inherited the regional structure of command from the erstwhile Indian Airlines after the two airlines were merged. Before that, while Indian Airlines had its headquarters in New Delhi, Air India’s head office was housed in Nariman Point in Mumbai. In 2012, the merged entity’s headquarters was shifted to Airlines House in New Delhi.
The airline will also vacate all government provided accommodation and shift its headquarters to Gurugram by September-end. Besides Air India, its sister companies Air India Express and AirAsia India will also shift under the same roof from Kochi and Bengaluru. The commercial department of AirAsia India already operates out of Gurugram.
The erstwhile national airline which the Tata Group acquired last year has already signed a deal with Vatika Group for about 200,000 square feet space at its newly constructed project One-On-One. While the project will be completed in early 2023, the airlines will move to an interim office space in Gurugram.
According to the Share Purchase Agreement, the real estate properties of Air India were kept out of ambit of the deal and will be sold separately by the government to pay off around Rs 28,000 crore debt of the airline that the government has acquired.
“The consolidation of many premises under one roof, and the evolution from a regionalised to centralised structure, is a significant milestone in Air India’s transformation journey. Together with the deployment of new technology and communication platforms, and the co-location of Air India with sister airlines, it is an exciting step forward,” said Campbell Wilson, CEO & Managing Director, Air India.
