"Alcohol-related incidents decreased in past two years...": Air India CEO

Alcohol-related incidents on flights have decreased in the past two years after reporting of such incidents to authorities has increased, said CEO of Air India Campbell Wilson on Thursday.

In a media briefing, the Air India CEO said that there is an education process required for the travelling public as to what "behaviour is acceptable" on aircraft; there's also a process of educating crew on what are their obligations and their function and what the company will do to back them up when facing an "unruly passenger."

He further added that there's also an element of police and government involvement that if there's an incident, they have to report.

"There's a safe environment for a cabin crew to go in and report. And when a matter is reported so that there is action that's taken seriously by authorities, so that there's a purpose to reporting, so it's really a multifaceted thing," he added.

The Air India CEO said that their cabin crew members are confident in dealing with disruptive passengers.

"Our crew's confidence in dealing with disruptive passengers because of all of their education and training process has gone up. Certainly, the reporting of such incidents to the authorities by the airline has gone up a lot. I think the incidents have actually come down," he said.

He also highlighted the addition of around 9,000 new employees during this period, which significantly reduced the average age of staff from 54 to 35. The average age of cabin crew is now 28.

Wilson further shared that the group currently operates 300 aircraft, employs 30,000 staff, and conducts 1,200 daily flights. These figures underscore the scale of the new Air India group.

He further said that Air India now commands a 29 per cent share of India's domestic market, up from single digits at the time of privatisation.