Air India will provide near 1,000 premium economic system class seats to passengers day by day, because the airline goals to retrofit 85% of its slender physique plane by the second half of 2025.
A view of the Premium Financial system part of Air India.
“We serve around 63 million customers, most of whom fly domestic or short-haul routes on our narrow-body fleet. Narrow-body aircraft make up two-thirds of our total capacity, while wide-body aircraft account for the rest. By the second half of this year, our entire narrow-body fleet—serving nearly 80% of these 63 million customers will be upgraded with modern, retrofitted aircraft,” Nipun Aggarwal, chief industrial and transformation officer of Air India stated.
“This means that 80-85% of Air India passengers will experience a significantly improved product, marking a major transformation for the airline,” he added.
Air India has 120 slender physique plane (flying to brief haul routes). Seventy of the slender physique plane belonged to Vistara (that are already in good condition) and Air India had 50 plane out of which 41 will likely be retrofitted by June this 12 months. One other 9 slender our bodies (that are A321 CEO plane) will likely be retrofitted in one other 12 months, the airline stated.
“Out of the 41 A320neo legacy aircraft, 14 of them have been retrofitted, 27 will be done by the middle of this year. Once these legacy aircraft are retrofitted almost the entire Air India’s narrow body fleet, would have been modernised,” Aggarwal stated, including that each one “retrofitted aircraft will have three class configurations (business, premium economy and economy class)”.
These plane can have 24 premium economic system and eight enterprise class seats.
Till the whole Air India fleet is modernised and retrofitted, the airline has chosen to prioritise Vistara plane on key company and premium routes. Nevertheless, because the Air India upgrades are accomplished, its retrofitted plane will step by step be launched on these prime routes as properly.
The airline can also be set to begin retrofitting of its 40 widebody jets beginning this 12 months and the primary 787-9 ought to rolled out within the later a part of the 12 months, the official indicated.
The airline’s plan of retrofitting their widebody plane that fly on lengthy haul and extremely lengthy haul routes has been delayed due to provide chain points and challenges that seat producers are dealing with globally, the airline official stated.
“We are a full-service airline aiming to become a world-class carrier, and we see great potential in this segment. Revenue growth in the back cabin (economy class) has been 1.6 times, while the front cabin (business and premium economy class) has grown by 2.3 times. This success comes from better pricing, enhanced airport and in-flight experiences, improved meal quality, and an overall stronger brand perception,” he stated.