Your flight experience is about to get a major upgrade in 2023

To say that Indian aviation has found its mojo again would be an understatement. Be it the Tata Group’s takeover of Air India, the planned merger of Vistara with Air India or the proposed induction of Turkish Airlines’ Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in the IndiGo fleet, there is a lot going on in the Indian aviation space. And all of it is good news for you, the flyer.

Overall, most airlines in India ended 2022 on a promising note as demand for air travel returned despite high airfares thereby ensuring our airlines had the confidence and the cash to invest in industry leading products and amenities. 

While the analyst in me would love to go over the profit and loss statements; and fleet induction strategies of our airlines with you, the intent of this article is to dwell on the customer facing developments such as the induction of widebody aircraft at Air India (with the latest amenities) after almost five years or the continued route expansion at Vistara. This year will be rather eventful and I have tried my best to summarise these key developments below.

Air India: a much better in-flight experience

The airline has been in the news for various reasons. The most exciting one, at least to me, was the induction of two of Air India’s latest aircraft (the Boeing 777-200LR) to its fleet, which were earlier in use by Delta Air Lines. 

The inflight product on these Air India aircraft is miles ahead of the legacy wide body fleet at Air India. Among other things, the seats are better, there is a new premium economy cabin, on-demand touch screen inflight entertainment, and comforts like TUMI inflight amenity kits for the premium cabins. Currently, this substantially upgraded Air India experience is available on the 3x weekly Mumbai - San Francisco service. Starting 15 January, it will be available on the 3x weekly Bengaluru - San Francisco service too. Further, from Valentine’s Day this year, you may be able to experience it on the airline’s Mumbai - New York JFK service as well.

The turnaround of a legacy airline such as Air India is bound to take some time and involves fixing and, in some cases, redoing things from scratch. 

Given the impact the inflight product has on the passenger experience, Air India has committed $400 million to refurbish (from nose to tail) 27 Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 13 777-300ER widebody aircraft. This refurbishment will see a complete overhaul of existing cabin interiors, including the addition of latest generation seats and best in-class inflight entertainment across all classes.

In addition, the refurbishment will see the introduction of a Premium Economy cabin on most of its wide-body fleet. What should give some comfort to high flying jet setting executives is the fact that the First Class cabin will be retained and refurbished on the 777-300ER (these aircraft currently operate mostly to North America).

Air India has engaged leading London-based product design companies, JPA Design and Trendworks, to assist with the cabin interior design elements of this refurbishment programme. The collaboration brings together two experts in the fields of aviation and interiors that have produced designs for major brands including Taj Hotels, The Orient Express, and Herman Miller International. Should all go as planned, Air India may reveal the refurbished product this year with the first retrofitted aircraft arriving in 2024.

Furthermore, the airline is to induct as many as 42 aircraft this year as it expands its network. There is little information in the public domain about the inflight product on these aircraft, however, I hope the Vistara narrow body product (which is well-liked) and includes inflight entertainment streamed using a Wi-Fi system, becomes the Air India product on its future narrowbody fleet.

Vistara: still around and taking off to newer isles?

Despite the much talked about proposed merger of Vistara with Air India, the airline continues to operate as a separate entity and compete with others, including Air India.

The airline is to receive the remaining four Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft currently on order and may use them to expand its current routes to Europe or launch new routes to North America.

There is also chatter about the airline starting flights to the island nation of Mauritius from Mumbai later this year. Should this fructify, these flights will be operated by the airlines Airbus 321neo fleet which has flat beds in Business Class and seat back inflight entertainment across all cabin classes.

As a frequent flier, what I am most intrigued about is the impact of the merger (remember it is subject to regulatory approval) on the loyalty program, Club Vistara; and the various credit card partnerships. One would hope most elements (if not all) of Club Vistara are incorporated into the Air India loyalty program, Flying Returns, (for instance, the earn and burn ratios and redemption levels). More importantly, will there be a status match between Club Vistara and Flying Returns? I certainly hope so.

To conclude, it is safe to say that the Vistara brand will be around for now (at least for this year) as the proposed date for the completion of the merger with Air India is March 2024.

IndiGo: upping the Turkish delight

India’s largest and most successful airline recently inducted its 300^th aircraft. This is a first for an Indian airline and positions IndiGo in the big league globally. For comparison, they now have more aircraft than all Tata Group owned airlines i.e., Air India, Vistara, Air Asia India and Air India Express; Go First; and Akasa combined.

You will see the airline operate Boeing 777-300ER widebody aircraft acquired on wet lease from Turkish Airlines. A wet lease is an arrangement whereby an airline inducts an aircraft operated by another airline along with pilots and cabin crew, though in this case, interestingly, IndiGo cabin crew will operate alongside Turkish cabin crew too.

The first such aircraft is scheduled to operate for IndiGo on the New Delhi – Istanbul route from 1 February 2023. While details of the business class service on these flights are awaited, the seat should be the same as the one found on other Turkish airlines aircraft.

The airline's Mumbai-Istanbul service too is scheduled to switch to this aircraft in due course. Currently, IndiGo flights from New Delhi and Mumbai to Istanbul make a fuel stop in Ras-Al-Khaimah and operate non-stop on the way back.

Furthermore, IndiGo will offer its buy on board menu in the economy cabin on flights operated by Turkish Airlines aircraft.

Overall, the market leader will continue to induct aircraft and grow across the board (both in India and overseas) in 2023; with a focus on doing what it does best, get you from A to B, on time. Should the airline receive its first Airbus 321XLR (this variant of the popular A321 can fly farther than the current A321neo they have in their fleet) this year, the airline may mount low cost flights to Western Europe as well.

Jet Airways 2.0 may take off

Despite Jet Airways’ Air Operators Certificate (AOC) being revalidated on 20 May 2022 (for a year), the airline’s relaunch–which was earlier slated for November 2022–got delayed, on the back of a standoff between Jet’s new owners and the airline’s past lenders. The matter seems to have been resolved now, as the NCLT recently ordered against the lenders to transfer control of Jet Airways to the new owners. This could mean Jet Airways creating history and taking to the skies by this summer.

According to public statements earlier made by Jet Airways’ CEO-designate Mr. Sanjiv Kapoor, the new management team of Jet Airways has a “game-changing plan” for the revived avatar of the airline, that is waiting to be executed. Kapoor repeatedly said that travellers can expect the most customer-friendly policies and facilities on board Jet Airways, if and once the airline makes a comeback. 

We also know that Jet Airways may return as a hybrid airline i.e., where they may have a full-service Business Class product in the front of the aircraft, a small full-service economy product for those who may like to fly with the frills i.e., food and extra comfort and a large IndiGo-style low-cost cabin too. It seems the new owners of the airline had plans to induct a fleet of brand-new Airbus 320neo narrowbody fleet, as the first such aircraft was spotted in Jet livery last year.

Here’s hoping we see a return of one of India’s most iconic airline brands to the skies this year.

Akasa Air may fly international 

The not so new kid in town now, Akasa, continues to grow at breakneck speed. The airline got its Air Operators Certificate after Jet Airways and has a fleet of 14 Boeing 737 Max aircraft already.

Akasa has inducted numerous B737 Max aircraft, earlier earmarked for Jet Airways in its fleet. Given the supply chain issues plaguing the aviation industry globally, these aircraft arrived with a business class cabin. The plan, I am told, is to refurbish them later into its standard configuration.

However, until that happens, you can enjoy the comfort of an erstwhile Jet Airways business class seat marketed by Akasa as “Akasa++” for Rs2,500 per flight over and above your seat price. While the Akasa++ seat is featured only on a few aircraft, their Akasa+ extra leg-room seats are available fleetwide and should appeal to the discerning traveller who likes a tad bit more comfort when flying.

More importantly, we will see Akasa fly overseas this year as it inducts its 20^th aircraft. Exciting times ahead no doubt for the team at Akasa and all of us as we will have another low-cost option to fly abroad.

The others

There is little by way of passenger enhancements to look forward to at SpiceJet and Go First; and at India’s first JV airline, Air Asia India, a low-cost airline, which is to be merged with Air India Express (AIX) imminently. For the uninitiated, AIX operates primarily on routes to the Gulf from South India and is a low-cost airline too.

This year is expected to be pivotal in the story of India’s airlines as we will see them grow exponentially and evolve their products and facilities to truly global standards. As a passenger, there could not be a better time to take to the skies than in 2023.

Longani is Head of Operations at Sarin & Co., a law firm specialising in aircraft leasing and finance