Over the past few days, several viral reels, videos and posts have surfaced on social media expressing concerns over the quality of aircraft offered by Air India. A recent incident involved a paying passenger. INRThe $4.5 million journey from Canada to Delhi on Air India’s B777 highlights complaints about the overall condition of seat comfort and amenities. In December, another passenger flying from Mumbai to Melbourne on Air India’s newly launched service raised multiple concerns involving both hardware and software aspects of the airline’s service.
A quick look at social media shows everything from broken seats, broken remote controls, IFE screens not working on the hard product side, especially in economy class, to complaints about cleanliness and service. You can see that it is full of complaints. An interesting observation of the complaints is that the number of passengers in the front cabin has decreased significantly, while the number of passengers in economy class seems to have increased.
This comes in the backdrop of Air India’s first A350 aircraft to land in India in the last week of 2023, with preparations underway for domestic operations from January 22. As Tatas celebrates two years since its acquisition of Air India, when will the traditional aircraft be operational? The deadline is approaching, but what’s stopping you?
Why are there complaints?
When the Tata Group took control of Air India, it was discovered that several aircraft were grounded due to lack of maintenance due to lack of funds. Once the group injected funding and started operating planes, it first started returning to previous destinations, then increasing the frequency to those destinations, and then adding new links like Mumbai to Melbourne .
Airplane seats and IFEs are old and not in the best condition due to supply chain issues and years of lack of maintenance. Working with group companies, the Tatas were also able to use 3D-printed materials to replace traditional parts that were unavailable due to supply chain issues, supplier closures or mainsheet outages. However, the IFE still has problems that cannot be repaired or that there is too much drainage to fix in the short term.
When can we expect change?
Air India will invest USD 400 million to completely refurbish the interiors of its legacy fleet of 43 wide-body aircraft. The 43 aircraft include 27 B787s and 16 B777s. Renovation work is scheduled to begin in mid-2024. This consists of the installation of brand new seats in all cabins, a new inflight entertainment system and onboard Wi-Fi internet connectivity.
The entire exercise is expected to conclude by the end of 2025, meaning two or more aircraft will begin to be refurbished in the second half of this year. The company expects 33% of its widebody aircraft to be upgraded by March 2024. This means six A350s (one from India), five B77Ls (all in service) previously operated by Delta Air Lines, and potentially confirmed B77Ws from Etihad Airways and Singapore Airlines. means.
Why isn’t there another option?
Hard product improvements may have their limits, but if Air India aims to be a world-class airline, cleanliness issues should not be tolerated. If there are complaints that the remote control cable is broken or the remote control does not work, it would be reasonable to “disable” the seat without assigning it at check-in. This leaves many seats unusable, leading some to wonder if the viability of the route is called into question in terms of deploying such aircraft.
It’s often argued that it’s the passengers’ fault for the dirty and clean cabins, and that’s definitely true, but passengers don’t change overnight, so it’s important for airlines to put in place mechanisms to keep their planes clean. is needed.
Air India aims to be a premium carrier
The refurbishment of the B777-300ER (known as the B77W) will likely coincide with its heavy maintenance cycle. The company has 13 of his aircraft in its fleet, and with the exception of a long-haul flight to San Francisco, which is operated by a B777-200LR, it flies mostly to North American destinations, with a lot of heavy lifting on the route. We are doing Currently, the aircraft consists of 4 first class suites, 35 business class seats (2-3-2 seats (7 seats across, 5 rows)), and 303 seats in economy class (9 seats across). Air India has released a video of renderings showing what the renovation will look like, with a detailed look showing what the new LOPA (Layout of Passenger Amenities) will look like.
The B777’s premium economy seats are 5 rows x 8 seats for a total of 40 seats. The company also plans to continue with first class seating, either in one row or with four seats, exactly as it does now. Business class cabins will now have doors to increase privacy and possibly reduce peagate incidents. The layout has shifted from 2-3-2 to 1-2-1, and the window seat passengers appear to be staggered. The number of business class seats has also increased slightly. The highlight here is the abolition of the “middle seat” in business class. The middle seat is not everyone’s favorite seat, but in a premium cabin it automatically becomes the least preferred seat. Currently, there are 303 economy class seats on the B77W. The increase in business class seats and the addition of premium economy could leave space for around 250-260 seats. However, the seat width will be narrower. The current cabin seat width is 18 inches, with seat pitch ranging from 31 to 33 inches. Width may be reduced to 17.05 inches.
The question is, how can Air India command a premium price if cleanliness remains an issue?
Ameya Joshi is an aviation analyst.