As new CEO takes over at Air India, 66% fliers surveyed say the airline has issues with timeliness; 40% also raise issues with information timeliness & transparency

August 7, 2026, New Delhi: The resignation of Air India CEO Campbell Wilson in April this year further intensified scrutiny over the airline’s operational reliability, service quality, and financial performance as the Tata Group continues one of the aviation industry’s most ambitious turnaround efforts. Wilson, who led Air India since its privatization in 2022, stepped down amid mounting regulatory pressure, continuing losses, and fallout from the 2025 Ahmedabad crash. After a prolonged search that ran past its original May deadline and forced Tata Sons to constitute an interim management committee, Air India on 5 August 2026 named Tewolde Gebremariam — the former CEO of Ethiopian Airlines Group who built that carrier into Africa’s largest and most profitable airline group — as its new Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, succeeding Wilson. The financial picture has deteriorated in parallel — Air India and Air India Express together posted a net loss of Rs 22,238 crore in FY26, more than double the Rs 10,859 crore combined loss of the preceding year.

Despite visible progress in branding, fleet expansion, and digital modernization, customer satisfaction remains uneven. Air India has inducted modern aircraft including the Airbus A350 and accelerated cabin refurbishment programs, while also integrating Air India Express and the former Vistara operations into a unified aviation group. The airline says more than 100 aircraft have been added to the fleet and narrowbody retrofits are nearing completion. However, many long-haul routes continue to operate older Boeing 777s and legacy aircraft with ageing interiors, malfunctioning seats, inconsistent in-flight entertainment systems, and frequent maintenance-related complaints. There have been some visible gains in recent months: from 1 August 2026 Air India began deploying a Boeing 787-9 with brand-new premium cabin interiors on the Delhi–Toronto route, removing the enroute fuel stop and cutting nearly three hours off the journey. Such upgrades, however, still cover only a part of the widebody network.

Operational disruptions remain a major concern in 2026. Air India has cut capacity sharply through August 2026 — withdrawing about 145 weekly international services, a 27% reduction in long-haul capacity amounting to roughly 400 international flight cancellations a month between June and August, alongside a reduction of up to 22% in domestic flights due to rising aviation fuel prices, Middle East geopolitical tensions, Pakistan airspace restrictions, and persistent aircraft engine and spare-parts shortages affecting global aviation supply chains. Passengers continue to report delays, schedule changes, and cancellations, particularly on international sectors. Airport congestion and the complexity of integrating new aircraft into existing operations have further affected reliability.

Complaints regarding timeliness, lack of timely information sharing and transparency, slow call-centre responses, baggage mishandling, poor disruption management, and inconsistent ground support continue to surface across social media and consumer forums. Although premium cabins on newer aircraft have received positive feedback for improved seating, catering, and crew professionalism, service standards vary significantly across routes and fleet types, undermining Air India’s efforts to reposition itself as a global premium carrier. DGCA's June 2026 monthly report indicates where the friction lies: of 2,568 complaints registered against domestic airlines that month, baggage-related issues formed the largest block at 27.8%, followed by flight-related problems at 24.3%, refunds at 19.7% and customer service at 5.4%. The Air India Group recorded 3.2 complaints per 10,000 passengers carried.

At the same time, Air India has received recognition for its transformation efforts. The airline retained strong ratings at global passenger experience forums and continued to improve internal Net Promoter Scores, supported by investments in digital systems, upgraded lounges, training academies, and maintenance infrastructure. Nevertheless, independent passenger reviews and social media sentiment remain mixed, highlighting the gap between strategic transformation and everyday customer experience.

Regulatory oversight has also intensified. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has reportedly increased scrutiny following safety lapses, operational disruptions, and technical compliance concerns. Reuters reported that the airline continues to face financial losses and regulatory pressure even as the modernization programme progresses. DGCA has since flagged repeated maintenance-related occurrences at the airline and advised it to strengthen coordination across engineering, operations and ground handling units and to ensure availability of adequate spares, so that technical snags stop translating into passenger delays.

Competition in India’s aviation market has become more challenging as rivals such as IndiGo continue outperforming Air India on punctuality, operational efficiency, and domestic customer satisfaction. Industry analysts note that while Air India’s long-term transformation strategy remains credible, restoring passenger trust and achieving consistent service delivery will remain critical challenges in 2026 and beyond. DGCA's June 2026 traffic data makes the gap explicit — IndiGo's domestic market share rose to a record 66.3% while the Air India Group's slipped from 25.6% in May to 23.9% in June. On punctuality across the ten busiest airports, IndiGo posted 89.4% against the Air India Group's 85.9%, and 1.25% of Air India Group flights were delayed by more than two hours versus IndiGo's 0.55%.

LocalCircles survey in 2025 highlighted continued dissatisfaction over aircraft maintenance & quality, cleanliness, faulty seats, and entertainment systems. Additionally, Air India’s rapid expansion—combining fleet induction, mergers, and workforce integration—has placed significant strain on operations.

In a new survey, LocalCircles has strived to find out whether there has been any improvement or deterioration in passenger rating of Air India. The survey received over 18,000 responses from Air India passengers located in over 301 districts of the country. 63% respondents were men while 37% respondents were women. 44% respondents were from tier 1, 28% from tier 2 and 28% respondents were from tier 3, 4, 5 & rural districts.

6 in 10 who flew Air India confirmed experiencing issues with timeliness in the last 12 months; Over 3 in 10 also had an issue with food quality, information timeliness & transparency and quality & maintenance of aircraft

Seeking Air India passengers’ views on different yardsticks, the survey asked, “What are some of the issues you have experienced when flying Air India in the last 12 months?” Some among 18,483 respondents to the question indicated more than one issue. The largest group of 66% indicated “timeliness” as a major concern or area of dissatisfaction; 40% of respondents indicated “food quality” served onboard; 40% of respondents indicated issues with "information timeliness and transparency”; 34% of respondents indicated “quality and maintenance of aircraft”; 28% of respondents indicated “staff attitude and courteousness”; 28% of respondents indicated "baggage handling”; 19% of respondents indicated "customer service”; 19% of respondents indicated "entertainment system”; and 34% of respondents indicated "other issues” not mentioned above. To sum up, 6 in 10 who flew Air India confirmed experiencing issues with timeliness in the last 12 months; Over 3 in 10 also had an issue with food quality, information timeliness & transparency and quality & maintenance of aircraft.

DGCA safety audits flagged a total of 263 safety-related lapses across Indian airlines in mid-2025, with Air India recording 51 issues in audits aligned with international standards. Reflecting ongoing regulatory oversight, the 19 Level-I (critical) safety violations included training gaps, use of unapproved simulators, and rostering/crew management issues, with Air India emerging higher on the list due to its larger operation scale.

As of June 2026, DGCA operational data shows the Air India Group's on-time performance across the ten busiest airports to be 85.9%, trailing IndiGo's 89.4%. The Air India Group also had 1.25% of its flights delayed by more than two hours against IndiGo's 0.55%, and DGCA attributed 69% of all delays to reactionary causes, that is aircraft arriving late from previous sectors. LocalCircles survey shows that 66% Air India fliers had issues with the airline’s timeliness in 2026 as compared to 48% last year.

As per DGCA's June 2026 monthly report, domestic airlines received 2,568 passenger complaints, translating into 1.91 complaints per 10,000 passengers carried, all of which the regulator reported as resolved. The Air India Group's complaint rate stood at 3.2 per 10,000 passengers, the third highest after Alliance Air at 68.6 and SpiceJet at 3.4, and over three times IndiGo's 1.0. On the yardstick of airlines staff attitude and courteousness, LocalCircles’ survey revealed that there is marginal reduction in Air India fliers having issues with the staff from 31% last year to 28% currently.

The survey shows that in the last 12 months there has been sizeable reduction in Air India fliers who have had issues with the airlines customer service which has dipped considerably from 31% in 2025 to 19% currently. DGCA's June 2026 complaint break-up, in which customer service accounted for 5.4% of all grievances registered against domestic carriers, points in a broadly similar direction.

Some industry data from FY2024-25 shows Net Promoter Scores (NPS) rising sharply (nearly +20 points) as Air India modernises cabins, upgrades food and digital services, and integrates Vistara’s premium offerings. However, LocalCircles survey this year shows that there is marginal increase in Air India fliers who have had an issue with airline’s food quality. The percentage of those with complaints about food quality has risen from 31% in 2025 to 40% currently. Isolated but widely circulated incidents have not helped the airline's cause either, with a passenger on a Delhi–Pune flight alleging that the aloo chaat served onboard had been made with rotten potatoes, a video that went viral and drew a response from the airline.

Air India’s brand and satisfaction ratings are improving in many formal metrics (NPS, industry awards, upgraded cabins), but real-world passenger experiences still lag due to aircraft quality issues, reliability concerns, customer service gaps and the operational complexities of rapid expansion. On the yardstick of airline’s quality and maintenance of aircraft, LocalCircles finds there is sizable reduction in Air India fliers who have had an issue as the percentage of complaints has dipped sharply from 79% last year to 34% currently.

Similarly on baggage handling, there is noticeably reduction as 28% of Air India fliers have complaints this year as against 48% in 2025. DGCA data suggests baggage nonetheless remains the single largest source of formal grievance across Indian carriers, accounting for 27.8% of all complaints in June 2026. In the same month, the Rajasthan State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission ordered Air India to pay Rs 74,131 to a student after prolonged delays in refunding excess baggage charges.

Although Air India has inducted modern aircraft such as the Airbus A350 and begun refurbishing older fleets, a large portion of operations still rely on legacy aircraft with worn interiors and frequent technical issues. Passenger surveys consistently cite malfunctioning seats, cleanliness and in-flight entertainment failures, particularly on long haul flights. However, LocalCircles survey has revealed that there is reduction in the percentage of Air India fliers who have had issues with the entertainment systems in 2026 which has dipped to 19% as against 36% last year. The progressive induction of retrofitted and newly delivered widebodies, including the Boeing 787-9 with brand-new premium cabin interiors placed on Delhi–Toronto from 1 August 2026, is likely to have contributed to this improvement, though coverage across the long-haul fleet remains partial.

On the other hand, there is a slight increase in the percentage of Air India fliers who have had problems with the airline’s information timeliness and transparency which was 36% in 2025 and is now 40%. DGCA's June 2026 report shows refund-related grievances made up 19.7% of all complaints against domestic airlines, while Air India's decision to cancel roughly 400 international flights a month between June and August 2026 has placed a heavy load on how clearly and promptly the airline communicates re-accommodation, free date change and refund options to affected passengers.

Percentage of Air India fliers surveyed who had an issue with timeliness from airline rose from 48% in 2025 to 66% in 2026; Deterioration also observed in food quality & airline’s information timeliness and transparency

Overall, the percentage of Air India fliers surveyed who have had an issue with timeliness of the airline has risen from 48% in 2025 to 66% in 2026. Similarly, deterioration has been observed in food quality, airline’s information timeliness and transparency which often results in endless wait regarding flights delayed for varied reasons.

In summary, the survey shows that 6 in 10 who flew Air India have experienced issues with timeliness in the last 12 months; Over 3 in 10 also had an issue with food quality, information timeliness & transparency and quality & maintenance of aircraft.

While DGCA has been taking some steps to force the airline to improve its performance on various fronts particularly maintenance and safety, things are still a long way from fliers’ expectations. While strategic investments and leadership changes are delivering measurable improvements, customer satisfaction continues to be held back by operational reliability, aircraft condition, and service consistency. Sustained focus on execution, safety perception, and customer-centric service will be crucial if Air India is to convert its transformation efforts into long-term growth and stronger global standing. The change leadership will hopefully see Air India improving its performance on all counts. With Tewolde Gebremariam — chosen for his record of large-scale airline turnarounds and profitable expansion at Ethiopian Airlines — now set to take charge, the next few months will test whether the transformation retains its momentum and translates into measurable improvement for fliers.

Survey Demographics

The survey received over 18,000 responses from Air India passengers located in over 301 districts of the country. 63% respondents were men while 37% respondents were women. 44% respondents were from tier 1, 28% from tier 2 and 28% respondents were from tier 3, 4, 5 & rural districts. The survey was conducted via LocalCircles platform, and all participants were validated citizens who had to be registered with LocalCircles to participate in this survey.