Travelport is the leading distributor of Air India content globally for travel agencies. NDC content to be available on Travelport+ in the fourth quarter of this year. Travelport, a global technology company that powers travel bookings for hundreds of thousands of travel suppliers worldwide, and Air India, India’s leading global airline, announced that they are accelerating the launch of NDC content and servicing for Travelport-connected agencies. Travelport is the leading distributor for Air India content globally, connecting the airline to its network of travel agencies around the world via the Travelport+ platform. Agencies using Travelport+ will be able to quickly and easily view and compare the airline’s NDC offers alongside traditional content in the fourth quarter of this year. “Globally, Travelport is the leading aggregator of Air India content for travel agencies,” said Damian Hickey, Global Head of Travel Partners, Travelport. “Our partnership is centred around our shared belief that agencies are an essential retailing channel to provide travellers with seamless, personalised experiences for every trip, even after booking. That is why Travelport’s end-to-end NDC solution will empower agencies to directly service Air India bookings, so they can manage changes across NDC and non-NDC content seamlessly.” Travelport’s latest enhancement to the Travelport+ platform, Content Curation Layer (CCL), simplifies the process of accessing retail-ready content and identifying the most relevant options from airlines like Air India. Travelport’s CCL uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning (ML) to filter through aggregated multi-source content to deliver accurate search results that are standardised, making offers easier to understand and compare. This ensures that agents can then book the best options for their travellers from any source of Air India’s content, based on their unique needs …
Read More »Air India launches twice-daily Delhi-London flights on flagship A350
A350 will offer a new cabin product with full-flat beds in Business, a new Premium Economy experience along with comfortable, spacious seats in Economy Guests on this flight will experience Air India’s new soft product – Vista Verve Air India will also be introducing on board Wi-Fi soon, starting with the A350 on the Delhi-London Heathrow route Air India, India’s leading global airline, has introduced its brand-new Airbus A350-900 aircraft on the Delhi-London Heathrow route. This twice-daily service is the first deployment of the ‘new Air India’ experience on long-haul flights and represents a significant milestone in the airline’s transformation program. The Air India A350 cabin product includes a fresh three-class configuration offering full-flat beds in Business, a new Premium Economy experience and the latest generation seats in Economy. All guests enjoy the latest-generation inflight entertainment system offering more than 3000 hours of entertainment content, which will shortly be complemented by on board Wi-Fi. Guests in Business and Premium Economy will also enjoy updated amenity kits exclusively designed by Ferragamo and TUMI, as well as Air India’s new soft product – Vista Verve – with new chinaware, tableware, glassware and bedding. Completing the experience, flight and cabin crew will don, for the first time, their new Manish Malhotra-designed uniforms. Campbell Wilson, Chief Executive Officer, Managing Director, Air India, said: “The deployment of the flagship A350s on the Delhi-London Heathrow route marks a significant milestone for Air India. It demonstrates Air India’s commitment to elevating the travel experience of our guests to truly world-class standards and to going beyond just meeting customer expectations as we continue to grow and renew our fleet.” Air India’s A350 aircraft feature 28 private suites with …
Read More »Over 100 Air India aircraft, including 40+ wide-body ones, will be refitted with new interiors: Campbell Wilson
Campbell Wilson, CEO, Air India said they have finalised the start of their retrofit program for new aircraft. “More than 100 aircraft will be refitted with new interiors, including more than 40 wide-body aircraft. We have purchased more than 25,000 seats to support this refit program which will be installed in the coming months,” he added.
Read More »Air India ties up with Merlin Entertainments, to offer reward points for buying tickets to Madame Tussauds
Air India has partnered with Merlin Entertainments, a global leader in location-based, family entertainment, for Air India’s Flying Returns (FR) loyalty programme, effective from 8 May 2024. Now, Flying Returns members will earn reward points when they buy tickets to Merlin’s ‘Madame Tussauds’ across nine locations around the world.
Read More »Air India ‘Flying Returns’ members to earn points on tickets to Madame Tussauds globally
Air India, India’s leading global airline, and Merlin Entertainments, a global leader in location-based, family entertainment, have entered a global partnership for Air India’s Flying Returns (FR) loyalty programme. Effective 08 May 2024, Flying Returns members will earn Reward Points when they buy tickets to Merlin Entertainments’ Madame Tussauds across nine locations around the world. Two more Madame Tussauds locations will be added for the offering in the coming weeks, thus covering all worldwide locations of the popular tourist attraction. The partnership is powered by GlobalTix, Asia’s leading travel technology company, which enables the booking transactions. Air India’s Flying Returns members can earn up to 16 FR points per INR 100/USD 1.2 spent across participating Madame Tussauds locations. As part of an exclusive launch offer valid on bookings made until 25 June 2024 and visits completed until 30 June 2024, Flying Returns members can earn double Reward Points at five Madame Tussauds locations, namely Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai, London and New York. During the limited period, Flying Returns members will also get a complimentary entry for one child (2-11 years) accompanied by two adults at select Madame Tussauds locations. Air India and Merlin Entertainments signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at a ceremonial event held at the iconic Madame Tussauds Dubai during the on-going Arabian Travel Market 2024. Flying Returns members can earn FR Reward Points on tickets to the participating Madame Tussauds locations by purchasing their tickets here: https://airindia.tickete.co/partner/madame-tussauds-flying-returns-air-india/ Dominique Sidley, Global Trade Strategy Director, Merlin Entertainments, stated: “We at Merlin Entertainments are excited about this partnership with India’s leading airline, Air India, and to welcoming the ‘Flying Returns’ members to our incredible attractions across the globe. India is a …
Read More »Air India partners with BIAL, plans to develop Bengaluru as a premier aviation hub in South India
Air India partners with Bangalore International Airport (BIAL) to develop Bengaluru as a premier aviation hub for Southern India. The MoU will generate over 1,200 new job opportunities for highly skilled individuals in the state. Bengaluru is highly attractive as a destination market as well as a connecting hub.
Read More »Air India group marks international women’s day with various activities, operates 15 all-women crew flights
Reiterating its commitment to uphold gender equality, Air India group announced a slew of activities celebrating International Women’s Day. A total of 15 all-women crew flights were operated in the domestic and international sectors today. Over 15% of the cockpit crew of Air India are women – making it an airline with one of the largest number of women pilots. Women employees constitute as much as 51% of Air India’s workforce. In the last two years since the homecoming of Air India to the Tata group, there has been a sharp rise in the number of women employees in every sphere of the airline’s activities. At Air India Express, over 13% of pilots are women and close to 50% of the workforce comprises women employees. Air India group organised week-long programmes to inspire women employees across the network through webinars and live sessions with experts in various fields and role models for wider awareness and inspiration. As a special gesture to customers, Air India Express offered free seat selection and priority boarding services to all women passengers on women’s day through its mobile app and website. Air India Loyalty Programme Flying Returns is offering its women members a fast-track limited-time opportunity to skip the queue and upgrade to Silver Edge Club, which will offer them exclusive benefits like 15% more reward points, complimentary upgrades, and priority check-in services. This year’s Women’s Day theme ‘Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress’ reiterates the importance of achieving gender equality and well-being of women in all aspects of life, which resonates with the Tata group and Air India’s ethos of offering equal opportunities to all employees acknowledging that diversity and inclusion results in driving innovation …
Read More »Air India launches its new brand track: ‘India takes flight’
Air India, India’s leading global airline, unveiled a signature track defining its sonic identity, ‘India Takes Flight’, reflecting the sound of a bold, vibrant, and confident India. Air India’s new sonic identity is a jugalbandi (musical collaboration) featuring recent Grammy awardee and acclaimed musician Shankar Mahadevan, renowned percussionist and composer Taufiq Qureshi, celebrated lyricist and writer Prasoon Joshi, and London’s revered Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The track embodies Raga Yaman, a timeless Indian classical raga known to effortlessly captivate the hearts and minds of audiences. Air India also onboarded Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with a vision to create a global symphony that resonated across cultures as a warm invitation to India, while acting as a homeward melody welcoming Indians from around the world. “We wanted to create a melody that embodied the Indian spirit. We also wanted to capture a universality that brings people together. This musical odyssey accomplishes it expertly, and as the country’s flag-bearer, we are proud to carry this to the world,” Sunil Suresh, Head, Marketing, Air India, said. Air India will progressively roll out adaptations of the sonic brand identity across the guest’s journeys, starting from digital touchpoints and marketing campaigns to airport lounges and inflight boarding music. Last week, Air India launched its Safety Video where it teamed up with Bharatbala, Prasoon Joshi, and Shankar Mahadevan to create a cinematographic audio-visual for in-flight safety. The music in the safety video is a part of a signature brand sonic. Additionally, Air India has started the rollout of its new global brand identity across guest touchpoints, launched a new consumer-facing website and mobile app, unveiled a new collection of uniforms for cabin and cockpit crew designed by Indian celebrity …
Read More »Despite delivery struggles, Air India expects its first A350 aircraft by year-end: Sumeet Gosain
Sumeet Gosain, Vice President, Head -International Sales at TATA Air India said, “Unfortunately, both the Boeing and Airbus both are struggling with the deliveries of the aircraft. Having said that, we will get our first A350 before the end of the year. The more aircraft which will be coming in we will be expanding, and we are already looking at newer destinations. So, depending on the delivery of these aircraft we will build it up from there.”
Read More »Air India Rebranded: Airline reveals new logo and colour scheme
Air India launched a new logo on Thursday as a part of their rebranding step after being acquired by Tata Group. The new logo and colour scheme were unveiled at an event in Delhi. N Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons, launching the new logo during the event said, “signifies limitless possibilities.” The new colour scheme retains the bold red lettering of Air India but in a different font. The colour scheme also features a patch of red on the underbelly of planes with Air India written in white. The new look also re-imagines the iconic Indian window shape, historically used by Air India, into a gold window frame that becomes central to the new brand design system. It symbolises a ‘Window of Possibilities’. Subsequently, it was announced that Air India and Vistara, another subsidiary of Tata Sons, would be merged to create a more unified entity. This merger is projected to be completed by March 2024.
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