India's legacy international airline, Air India, is confident that its upcoming first-class product, set to debut with its new wide-body fleet in the next few years, will offer high-net-worth individuals an alternative to private jets on long-haul routes like Delhi to London.
"Even if you have a private jet, you can't fly to the US from India in your private jet without a stop. However, with our first-class product, you can fly nonstop and reach faster," said Air India's Chief Commercial Officer & Transformation Officer, Nipun Aggarwal, in an interview with Moneycontrol on January 10.
Aggarwal explained that Air India will deploy the first-class cabins on its largest aircraft, the Airbus A350-1000 and Boeing 777X. These planes will be delivered with the new first-class product, though he did not specify a timeline for their deployment. The airline is currently in discussions with Airbus and Boeing to ensure the new planes are configured with first-class cabins.
Not all wide-body aircraft in Air India's fleet will feature first-class cabins. Instead, the airline plans to use this as a niche offering on routes serving "mega-cities" such as Singapore, London, and New York.
"Many of the biggest airlines in the world are developing the next generation of first-class products, and Air India aims to compete with them by offering a superior product," Aggarwal added.
In 2023, Air India revealed its intent to retain first-class cabins on its legacy Boeing 777-300ER planes and planned to retrofit these aircraft with updated first-class cabins by September 2024. Currently, Air India's legacy Boeing 777 aircraft have one row of first-class seats (four seats) and 35 business-class seats. The new planes, however, will have a higher number of first-class and business-class seats.
Air India currently uses the Safran Unity platform in a 1-2-1 configuration for its first-class cabins. This platform, launched in 2022, debuted with the Project Sunrise A350 aircraft in January 2024. However, the final product choice for the new first-class cabins has yet to be disclosed.
In addition to fleet upgrades, Aggarwal mentioned that Air India will soon introduce new co-branded credit cards to enhance value for its frequent flyers. While he did not provide a timeline, he confirmed that the airline is actively in discussions with banks to develop these cards.
"In markets like the US and Australia, airline co-branded cards dominate, and we see an opportunity to simplify our card portfolio while offering a stronger customer value proposition. This will allow us to scale our co-branded card offerings," he said.
Existing cards will continue, but they will eventually be integrated into the revamped card portfolio.
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