Why Air India’s Revival Is A Metaphor For The Indian Economy

Why Air India’s Revival Is A Metaphor For The Indian Economy

Share to Linkedin Campbell Wilson, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Air India, speaks during the 118th ... [+] birth anniversary celebration of Air India Founder J. R. D. Tata in Mumbai, India, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022. I did something last month that I had not done for several decades—I flew on Air India. The national carrier, which had been the punchline of countless jokes, showed itself to be exactly the opposite of what so many passengers have come to expect in recent years. The domestic flight took off several minutes ahead of schedule and the ground and cabin crews exuded the quiet confidence evident in more established global carriers. It wasn't so much surprising as it was shocking. In many ways, Air India's revival can be viewed as a metaphor for the nation's wider economy, which, depending on which expert you rely on, is either on the cusp of a major revival, "India's decade" as investment bank Morgan Stanley proclaimed recently, or the country's growth will fall short in helping lower-income citizens, as Raghuram Rajan, the economist and former central bank governor, recently noted in an article. Looking at Air India first, the carrier now owned by India's