Before Air India starts in on how old their air crews look, they need to do something about how old the cabins of their aircraft are. We recently flew on AI, and the cabin looked every day of the 13 years old the aircraft was. Trim broken, pieces of the seat falling off, entertainment system nonfunctional, carpets and cushions stained and grimy. Very disappointing.
Air India for most of its existence was a state run enterprise with quality of service as you would expect (think DMV running an airline). From what I read it was privatized recently amid a lot of protests and new management is trying to remake the airline.