Air India Likely To Offer Laptops To Business Class Passengers
New Delhi: Pradeep Singh Kharola (Chairman and Managing Director) stated that Air India is considering providing laptops to its premium travelers with a motive to woo business class passengers on its international flights.
This is done to improve the airline’s passenger load factor or seat occupancy in business class as this class witness half of the seats empty.
Kharola also mentioned that business class can be a money spinner for Air India in the long haul flights. Currently, the passenger load factor is only 50% on these flights. The carrier is working on increasing that by offering better quality services. Plus, the airline is thinking of different options regarding the in-flight entertainment which is not doing well presently.
He added; the decision is yet to be taken on offering the laptops to passengers. Whether it would be available with inbuilt video screens or not as in such a case, it would not be counted as an additional perk for premium travelers.
On the international routes, Air India flies Boeing 747, 777 and 787s as well as Airbus 320. The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner in Air India’s fleet offers state-of-the-art in-flight entertainment; there are complaints about dysfunctional monitors on older aircraft.
Air India is working on connections with Los Angeles. As the long hauls are doing well, the airline is thinking of increasing frequency on the long haul routes both towards Australia and the US.
Kharola also mentioned that the carrier is getting three new Boeing 777s by February. The two of these will be used for VVIP purposes and the other one will be used for flights to Los Angeles.
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