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Air India to have on board Wi-Fi on international flights by year-end

Sep 22, 2024 09:25 PM IST

Since taking control of the airline from the government in January last year, the Tata Group has been introducing several measures to improve the airline

Having Wi-Fi on board its international flights by the end of this year, upgrading all its flights with soft products, retrofitting its legacy planes, and introducing the A350 aircraft, on international routes are some of the changes passengers will see within six months when they travel with Air India.

India’s newest aircraft- A350 was introduced by Air India in January this year. (PTI)
India’s newest aircraft- A350 was introduced by Air India in January this year. (PTI)

Since taking control of the airline from the government in January last year, the Tata Group has been introducing several measures to improve the struggling airline, which also involve hiring 9,000 staff, including crew, for better service. Air India is currently following a multi-phase transformation plan aimed at becoming a “world-class global airline with an Indian heart.” The flag carrier is enhancing its fleet and network, overhauling its customer services, and working to boost operational reliability.

Rajesh Dogra, chief customer experience officer said, “The airline is working to improve passenger comfort in both domestic and international routes. With the launch of A350, there is a massive customer boost in their overall perception... Customers see this as a signal of how the new Air India is going to be. For domestic routes too, we have begun retrofitting our old legacy narrow body aircraft and expect all of them to be retrofitted March next year.”

Officials in the know of the development said that the airline’s load factor on the newly introduced A 350 has picked up and a massive uptick in occupancy is observed in its business class.

India’s newest aircraft- A350 was introduced by Air India in January this year. It was, however, introduced in the international route (starting with Dubai) on May 1 and on September 1 in the Delhi- London (Heathrow) sector.

Air India currently has six A350 and the remaining 34 will be delivered to them between 2025 and 2028.

Officials said that the airline, apart from its soon to be retrofitted B777-300 legacy aircraft, is contemplating four class cabins (First class, business, premium economy, and economy class) in the A350 too.

“Air India is working with the seat suppliers to explore having the retrofitted widebody aircraft with four class cabins subject to regulatory approvals,” Dogra confirmed. However, an official confirmed to HT that the retrofitted B777-300 will have four class cabins and not the upcoming A350s.

After the takeover, the airline has been focusing on fleet expansion, hiring staff for better service, and improving its customer experience. The airline last month introduced a wireless blue box in all legacy wide body aircraft. This was done as a temporary solution since its legacy widebody aircraft do not have functional in-flight entertainment (IFE) facilities. There are supply chain issues leading to some dysfunctional IFEs, passengers on these aircraft can use these boxes called Vista until the planes are retrofitted.

Speaking on introducing Wi-Fi on board, Dogra said, “A lot of efforts have been made to launch Wi-Fi on board and international flights will get it first. Wi-Fi- will come before the year end, subject to regulatory approvals. The service should start with our A350s within one month after we receive the approvals.”

He also said that passenger experience will also improve with upgrading the flights with the soft products.

“We aim that soft product furnishing like the tablewares, glasswares, cutleries, beddings, amenity kits will be implemented by mid-November in all our flights to the US,” Dogra said.

However, soft products are expected to be introduced in all its international routes by mid-March.

“Almost 90% of our legacy narrow body aircraft would be retrofitted by mid 2025 after which Wide body retrofit will start around mid-next year,” he said.

Focusing on the pre- boarding experience as well, the airline has begun working to build a new international lounge at Delhi’s terminal 3. It is also set to refurbish the lounge at New York airport and has also leased a new lounge in San Francisco, work for which will begin by the year end.

“We are actively looking at Dubai and London to have new lounges. Domestically, we are looking to have exclusive lounges in Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad as well,” he concluded.

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