Air India rolls out premium makeover: New cabins, lounges, and aircraft to boost revenue

New Delhi: Air India is starting to deploy upgraded cabins of its older planes, bring in new planes and unveil posh airport lounges as the Tata Group-owned airline sharpens focus on premium passenger traffic to shore up revenue and return to profitability.

This year, the airline will operate eight Boeing 787-8 planes with completely new interiors, chief customer officer Rajesh Dogra said. The carrier is spending around $400 million (₹3,622 crore) for upgrading its inflight product in aircraft like the Boeing 787s and also the earlier 777s, where passengers have complained about worn-out seats and poor food quality.

On Sunday, it showcased the first of the retrofitted Boeing 787 which will soon fly on routes to Europe. The business class now has suites offering a sliding privacy door and a long list of other upgrades, such as an enclosed storage cubby, sleek seat controls and an adjustable armrest with built-in water-bottle storage.

The plane was delivered to Air India in 2015, when it was under state ownership.

"The cabin quality has been one of the major pain points in our transformation journey and one which we always wanted to address. We are rapidly modernising the backbone of our long-haul fleet and raising the bar for customers flying between India and the world," Dogra said.

The airline will also induct around six wide-body planes this year and open swanky lounges at its major destinations like San Francisco and New York. In February, it opened the first of such lounges in Delhi-its primary hub.

Such upgrades, Dogra believes, will allow Air India to attract premium customers, resulting in better ticket prices. Front-end cabins like business and first class are the top revenue generators for an airline, often helping subsidise the economy cabin to attract more passengers. "We are already seeing the benefit of operating planes with new interiors on routes like Dubai, New York, London," said Dogra. "As more and more new aircraft join, it will only improve."

The net promoter score-a key metric to gauge passenger satisfaction-has exponentially increased after the deployment of the new jets and upgraded cabins, Dogra said.