Air India board ratifies team consolidation, cost-saving plan

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The Group’s CEO empowered to take immediate measures to curtail costs and reduce wastage across various departments

By Rohit Vaid

Updated - October 22, 2026 at 08:14 PM. | New Delhi, Oct 22:

group effort. Air India has established a full-time cost savings team to systematically review expenditure | Photo Credit: bl-online Administrator

Tata Group-promoted Air India’s board has ratified a plan to consolidate select teams across Air India and Air India Express, along with additional measures to curtail costs and reduce wastage amid a difficult operating environment, sources told businessline.

According to sources, the board, which met on October 15, has empowered the airline’s Chief Executive Officer to undertake other cost-saving measures.”

On its part, Air India did not respond to queries.

Common Leadership

The decision comes as the Group seeks to reduce duplication across identified functions, improve resource utilisation and bring down overheads.

Earlier this month, businessline reported that the board took up the matter of consolidating departments across the two airlines.

The consolidation proposal covered human resources (HR), finance, information technology (IT) and engineering, with identified teams to be brought under common leadership.

Accordingly, the exercise is aimed at streamlining select functional departments across the Group while retaining the two airlines’ distinct identities, cost structures and product offerings.

Different Models

Notably, Air India would continue with its full-service positioning, while Air India Express would retain its low-cost model.

As reported by businessline earlier, the integration was expected to take about six months to implement following approval.

Presently, the marketing department has already been integrated as part of the Group’s commercial functions. Besides, the Group has shared leadership across network planning, sales and distribution, and revenue management.

At present, Air India Express has separate heads for HR and finance. The consolidation plan envisages extending integration to other identified functions through common leadership.

The board’s decision comes amid substantial losses at both carriers and a wider push for cost savings across the Group.

Synergy

As reported earlier, Air India recorded a consolidated net loss of ₹22,238 crore on revenue of about ₹71,870 crore in FY26.

On a standalone basis, Air India reported a net loss of ₹15,368 crore during the year, while Air India Express recorded a net loss of ₹6,767 crore.

Recently, Air India’s CEO and Managing Director Tewolde Gebremariam, in his first townhall address to employees, called for closer integration across the Group.

He emphasised that the airlines already belong to one Air India Group and that operations would be streamlined to pursue synergies wherever possible, while retaining a focus on customers.

Published on October 22, 2026

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