Airlines’ push for premium passengers yields dividends following the merger of Vistara with Air India

The push comes following the merger of Vistara with Air India that has expanded the airline’s premium offering. While Vistara’s Airbus aircraft always had a premium economy seating, Air India’s aircraft are undergoing a retrofit to provide a uniform three-class product across markets.

IndiGo, which is expanding its tailor-made business product to Delhi-Bengaluru route from January 10, said it is pleased with the customer response. “The initial reception of IndiGoStretch on Delhi-Mumbai route is very positive and aligns with our projected performance indicators,” the airline said. 

International airlines too are sprucing up their offerings by providing newer amenity kits, wider selection of meals and free onboardwi-fi. These changes come amid a growth of overseas travel. Departures by Indian nationals grew 9 per cent year-on-year to over 20 million between January and August.

 From December 1, Cathay Pacific is offering premium economy product on the Hong Kong-Chennai route. The seats provide better recline, greater comfort and a larger personal television set.

“From January to November, our loads on business class witnessed a growth of 37 per cent, while premium economy grew by 39 per cent as compared to the same period last year; this growth was driven primarily by Delhi and Mumbai routes,” said AnandYedery, regional head of customer travel and lifestyle, Cathay Pacific.

Business class seats are in demand for New Year eve leisure travel too. MakeMyTrip said it has seen a 50 per cent year-on-year increase in business class bookings across domestic and international sectors. On international sectors, the demand increase is over 80 per cent, it said.

“We have seen excellent growth in business class sales from November till January. This is across all our destinations in Oman, Europe, Africa and GCC countries,” said Sunil VA, Regional Vice President, Oman Air. The airline recently introduced a new business class product phasing out its first class. While the new product retains the earlier spacious layout and is more affordable than first class.“We continue to see steady demand for travel from Indians travelling overseas for the festive period and year-end holidays. While our premium economy, business class and first class cabins are popular among our customers, we are seeing an overall increase in bookings for our flights from all eight Indian destinations,” said Singapore Airlines’ General Manager (India) Sy Yen Chen.