Air India has a pilot problem

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Editor's note: Campbell Wilson may have just had the toughest week of the six months he’s been at the helm of Air India. The pee-gate episode has revealed laxity among personnel in following protocols in such cases. The chief executive officer and the airline’s responses drew flak for coming too late. “There was no sign of empathy or humanity. Just process,” is how a senior executive from a rival private airline described Air India’s statements once the lid came off the incident of a passenger relieving himself on a septuagenarian woman co-passenger on a long-haul flight.   Wilson, who joined Air India from Singapore Airlines-owned low-cost carrier Scoot, will have to act quickly to “review and repair” processes to prevent such incidents in the future. But that’s not the only problem he has to fix. A far more complex issue, one that’s been brewing for a while, is the shortage of pilots that’s bringing to the fore discontent among its most expensive and crucial human resource. To fix this, he will have to adopt more unorthodox methods.  Air India, according to several executives …