Air India has been recognized with the ‘Airline Strategy Award for Digital Leadership’ by FlightGlobal, a premier UK-based global platform of news and data for aviation and aerospace industries. The award is in recognition of Air India’s digital transformation after its return to the Tata Group, according to a press release issued by the airline.

The award was received in London by Air India's Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Campbell Wilson and Chief Digital and Technology Officer Satya Ramaswamy at an event organised by FlightGlobal in partnership with management consulting firm Korn Ferry.

The Airline Strategy Award is presented annually to recognise leadership and excellence across categories, with winners selected by an independent panel of industry analysts, consultants, and former airline chief executives, the release said. Air India was the sole recipient this year, following past winners United Airlines and Ryanair.

According to the airline, the recognition reflects progress made since the Tata Group takeover in 2022, when Air India began a technology-driven overhaul built around digital and AI-based systems.

Wilson said the award was a testament to the airline's transformation journey and reaffirmed the role of technology as a key differentiator in Air India's ambition to become a world-class global carrier.

Ramaswamy said the airline had built an extensive digital landscape of more than 140 systems since 2022, up from just a handful previously.

Among the milestones cited in the release: Air India built a cloud-based digital infrastructure of 140-plus enterprise systems within roughly two years, compared with an industry average of over a decade for transformations of similar scale. Its mobile app has been downloaded 17 million times and holds a 4.8-star rating on both the Apple App Store and Google Play in India.

The airline also pointed to its merger with erstwhile Vistara, which brought together more than 10 million loyalty members, around 300 aircraft and over 30,000 employees, with the technology integration completed in under a year.

Additionally, Air India said it deployed the airline industry's first generative AI virtual assistant, AI.g., in May 2023, which has since handled well over 26 million customer queries with a 97 percent containment rate.

Source: PR