SWOT Analysis of Air India

Swot analysis of Air India. Air India is an Indian flag carrier airline. The government of India owns the Air India enterprise limited. Indira Gandhi International Airport is the hub of the airline. The headquarter of the airline is in New Delhi, India.

J.R.D. Tata was the founder of the airline, and he laid the foundation of the company under the name of Tata Airlines in 1932. Tata Airlines went public and became a public limited company in 1946, and the Indian government bought 49% shares of the company in 1948. After the Air Corporation Act 1953, the government acquired the majority stake from the Tata Sons and renames the company Air India International Limited.

According to an estimate, the annual net revenue of Air India in 2022 was 2.5 billion dollars. It has increased by 64% in the fiscal year. The company has employed more than 9993 employees to manage its worldwide operations.

Air India’s top competitors are Qantas Airways, American Airlines, Qatar Airways, Emirates Airlines, Vistara, British Airways, Indigo Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Delta Airlines, and Jet Airways.

Today, we’ll discuss the swot analysis of Air India. It’s going to analyze the internal and external factors impacting the world’s growing airline. Here’s the swot analysis of Air India as follows;

Strengths of Air India 

Merger

Indian Airlines and Air India decided to merge under the parent company of Air India Limited in 2007. The merger allowed both airlines to minimize the losses, increase their business operations and became a member of Star Alliance in 2014.

Service

Air India offers a vast service portfolio comprising premium lounges, frequent flyer programs, in-flight entertainment, cabin service, and much more. However, the airlines offer low price tickets and allow people to buy them online. The convenience and low price have significantly increased the sale of the company.

Marketing

Air India knows the value of marketing and the airline uses various channels for the promotion of its brand and services. Like TV ads, print media, and digital and social media platforms like Facebook, Google, YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, and others.

Fleet & Destinations

The fleet size of Air India comprises 127 airplanes and it doesn’t include the subsidiary planes. However, the airline offers a total of 102 destinations in 33 countries across 4 continents worldwide. However, the company has the advanced aircraft of Boeing, Rolls Royce, and Airbus, the world’s top aircraft manufacturing companies.

Government Backing & Privatization

India is the world’s leading growing country and the Indian government owns Air India Limited. Now, the government has been planning to privatize the airline since 2017. Privatization would improve the company’s position when it’s away from the strict bureaucracy of the government.  

Weaknesses of Air India 

Issues with Employees

Air India has had complicated relations with its employees and it resulted in the form of many troubling issues over the years. For instance, some of the employees started protesting against the airline over the unfair training opportunities issue in 2012. Later roundabout 200 pilots joined the protest. However, the company had no choice but to cancel international flights from Delhi and Mumbai.

Financial Losses

Air India has had a plethora of losses over the years. According to an estimate, Air India has a net loss of 2570 crore Rupees in 2020-2021, and it has been accumulating annually. However, the government has already announced to privatize the airline, but no company has shown interest.

Opportunities available to Air India 

Tourism

The pandemic temporarily declined the tourism industry. But it is going back to normal after the pandemic because people are fed up being stuck in their houses and they can’t wait to go out and travel the world. However, it presents a great opportunity for Air India to add more tourist spots to its destinations in order to exploit the opportunity.

Domestic Market

India has the world’s 2nd largest consumer market in terms of population. India’s domestic market has a lot of potential for growth. Therefore, Air India should focus on the local domestic market and offer air travel services across India.

Threats Air India has to face 

Lower Market share

The market share of Air India is declining for the past few years. Other competitive airlines are taking advantage of the decreasing market share of Air India.

Increasing Cost

The safety protocol cost, fuel cost, and many other running variable costs are making it difficult for the company to remain profitable after excluding all the expenses. That’s why the company has been running into losses for the past few years.

Competition

The airline industry has become highly competitive recently. Multinational airlines are increasing their market by adding more and more destination spots in their routes, and it has made it difficult for the company to maintain its position in the market.

Conclusion: Air India Swot Analysis Example Company

After an in-depth study of the swot analysis of Air India, we’ve concluded that Air India is indeed the world’s fastest growing airline company. The air travel ban, financial issues, competition, and decreasing market share are some of the main challenges. Air India should stabilize its earnings to attract investors so that it becomes easier for the airline to privatize; while keeping in mind the internal strengths weaknesses; external opportunities and threats.