Summary
- Air India has migrated to a cloud-only IT infrastructure, making it one of the few major airlines in the world to do so.
- The airline earlier also embraced artificial intelligence by introducing a generative AI virtual agent that can answer over 6,000 questions daily in multiple languages.
- Air India has made significant real estate investments, including leasing seven floors in Gurugram for $2.8 million annually and investing in 620,000 square feet of commercial real estate for training purposes.
Air India’s transformation plan involves not just new aircraft and a bigger network, but also embracing new technology. The airline has already incorporated the use of artificial intelligence into its customer service operations and has now also moved to a cloud-only IT infrastructure.
Digital transformation
Air India recently announced that it has migrated to a cloud-only IT infrastructure, bringing an end to its data centers located in Mumbai and New Delhi. The move has made the airline one of the few in the world currently to have shifted all computational workloads exclusively to the cloud.
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Air India says that not only will this enhance operational efficiency and help roll out new digital innovations and applications, but also result in net savings of around $1 million annually. Dr Satya Ramaswamy, Chief Digital and Technology Officer, Air India, commented,
“At Air India, we have adopted ‘cloud-only’ as our computational infrastructure philosophy. For us, cloud is not just about cost savings and operational efficiencies but is a fundamental way to reimagine computing itself and a critical lever to accelerate innovation. We have adopted a strategic mix of Software-as-a-Service, Platform-as-a-Service and Infrastructure-as-a-Service methodologies in Air India’s transformation journey, allowing us to innovate faster and provide a flexible and reliable computational and networking infrastructure for the company.”
Air India noted that the move to the cloud came with the migration of “all computational workloads from several mainframes, hundreds of servers, a large amount of data, and hundreds of equipment to the cloud.”
The carrier recently also became the first airline in the world to have a generative AI virtual agent, which answers over 6,000 questions daily across four languages: Hindi, English, German, and French.
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Investing in commercial space
Air India has taken quite a few significant real-estate decisions after privatization. In November, it was reported that the airline had leased seven floors of a building in a business park in Gurugram on the outskirts of New Delhi for an annual rent of $2.8 million.
According to Mint, the airline paid an interest-free refundable security deposit of $1.3 million that got it parking space for 180 cars and an additional parking space for 18 vehicles in a separate block.
And recent reports reveal that Air India has also invested in 620,000 square feet of commercial real estate in Gurugram at an annual rent of somewhere between $7 and 10 million. According to Businessworld, the airline has signed the lease for the property for 21 years and plans to use it for training purposes. The developer will reportedly construct the building as specified by Air India, and it will also house simulators for pilot training.
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In a separate development, the iconic Air India building on Marine Drive in Mumbai also recently saw an exchange of ownership when the Maharashtra Government bought it for $192 million. The state government had been in touch with the Civil Aviation Ministry over the deal.
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