How Raghu Menon plans to put Air India on track

Raghu Menon, the newly-appointed chairman & managing director (CMD) of the National Aviation Company (Nacil), took charge in Mumbai on Tuesday. In the initial hours of his taking charge, he spoke to Manisha Singhal, charting out future plans, top priorities and immediate concerns for the national carrier. Excerpts from the interview:

After taking over as the CMD, what is on the top of your agenda for Nacil?

Customers are our main focus. We have to ensure that we not only attract customers but give them a great travelling experience and develop a loyal clientele. It is necessary that all employees are focused on this aspect.

We have to improve yields, load factors and revenues. For this, we have to ensure that the aircraft go full. On-time performance is a top priority.

How and by when do you plan to tackle and complete the manpower integration, a major roadblock for the merger?

The completion of the integration (Air India and Indian) process has to be put on the fast track. Already a good amount of work has gone into it, I would say about 75-80 per cent is already over. But the human resource issues are a big challenge because of the large number of the employees involved.

This has to be approached in a systematic manner. I have to first completely understand the issues and, for this, I am meeting employees over the next couple of days. Being fair to the employees is the most important thing about this integration process.

Air India has reported huge losses. How to you plan a turnaround?

We have to strategise on a number of fronts to put the airline back on track.  I do not have a magic wand to make it come out of red. Addition of new aircraft to the fleet is an important development as it comes after decades.  We also will have to devise appropriate responses for countering the increasing competition on international routes.

What will be your strategy for international route expansion?

There has to be an appropriate response for the Gulf routes as it is now heavily competitive. We plan to increase capacity on this route and high on my radar.  The government has entitlements which are lying unused for different international sectors as well as for the Gulf. Air India is best equipped to use these entitlements. We will also plan some new international routes.

What about the competition from private carriers and frills thrown in by the competitors?

I recently flew on one of our aircraft and I was pleasantly surprised. Our aeroplanes are brand new and a pleasure to travel on. They can give any airline a run for their money.

Thoughts on stepping into V Thulasidas' shoes?

It is a challenge as there are numerous issues to be tackled. The airline has talented and competent people. We have to channelise all this for growth.