Incoming Air India chief outlines cost cuts, reward scheme and growth plan

In a town-hall meeting, Air India’s incoming chief executive Gebremariam outlined his strategy for restoring profitability to the loss-making carrier. He said cost management is a responsibility shared by all employees, not just senior leadership or finance, and that collective savings can add up at the airline’s scale. To encourage this, the airline will introduce reward schemes for ideas that generate tangible cost reductions and efficiency gains.

Gebremariam highlighted the importance of scale in an industry with high capital outlays and fixed costs, noting that growth must be both profitable and sustainable. He pledged disciplined expansion, with attention to fleet deployment, network optimisation and operational rebalancing to boost long-term competitiveness.