Tata didn’t tell India about the $2.8 billion loss. Singapore Airlines did.
The number surfaced in SIA’s annual report on Thursday — ₹26,765 crore, the worst year Air India has booked since Tata bought it back in January 2022. SIA owns 25.1% of the airline after the Vistara merger, which is the only reason the figure is public at all. Air India, privately held, would have preferred to keep it quiet. SIA had to disclose its own $743 million share of the bleeding.
The Losses Aren’t a Bad Year. They’re a Trap.
Three forces hit at once, and none of them are inside Tata’s control. Pakistan banned Indian carriers from its airspace in January 2025 after a military clash. The Iran war started in March 2026, closing Middle East corridors. Jet fuel hit records as the Hormuz disruption took 1 billion barrels off the market — and India’s energy map looks permanently different. India then raised aviation fuel export duties on May 15.
Long-haul flights now burn more fuel on longer reroutes, at higher fuel prices, on routes only Indian carriers are forced to take — making India the G20’s most exposed energy importer.
Lufthansa and Cathay Were Watching
Foreign airlines don’t face Pakistan’s ban. So while Air India is cutting 27% of international flights from June to August — 29 routes, 40% off North America, Delhi-Chicago and Delhi-Newark fully suspended — Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific and KLM are adding capacity into India.
Foreign airlines’ share of India-origin international traffic jumped from 51.2% to 58.4% in one year. The rupee hit a record 95.43, compounding Air India’s dollar-denominated costs while foreign competitors with stronger currencies face less pressure. That isn’t a quarter’s swing. That’s a market changing hands.
The Turnaround Was Always Long. Now It’s Leaderless.
CEO Campbell Wilson resigned. The Tata board is choosing between SIA’s Vinod Kannan and insider Nipun Aggarwal. The final report on last June’s Ahmedabad crash that killed 260 is due within weeks. 570 new aircraft are on order, and jet fuel keeps getting more expensive. The routes to fly them profitably are vanishing.
Tata bought India’s flag carrier to make it a global champion. Right now it’s the only carrier on its own runway being told it can’t fly the shortest way out.