After a four-year wait, Air India’s Dreamliner — purchased to save the ailing airline — made its first trip from Delhi to Chennai on Wednesday. The flight, arriving from the national capital with 118 passengers, touched down at 9.45 a.m. and was welcomed with a water cannon salute and puja.
“No doubt, the experience is an unmatched one, what with better seating arrangement and an extraordinary sound system. One major difference I found from normal flights is that I feel less tired after the travel,” said Suresh, a passenger on the aircraft.
With 256 seats, comprising 18 business class seats and 238 economy class seats, the flight boasts a state-of-the-art in-flight entertainment system and an enhanced gaseous filtration system that reduces headaches and dizziness inside the aircraft.
The business class has seats with flat-bed recline, reading lamps, larger LCD screens, and footrests. The windows have an electronic dimming system, a feature that allows passengers to choose the level of brightness they desire.
The flight returned to Delhi with 92 passengers after an hour and was expected to make its second trip to Bangalore in the evening.
Asked about procuring the aircraft at a time when the airline is faced with heavy loss, an Air India spokesperson said, “It is overwhelming to have incorporated the best aircraft in the world into our fleet. For the survival of the airline, we have to upgrade and modernise constantly.”
Seven of these aircraft will arrive by the end of the year, he said. The fares for passage on the aircraft, surprisingly, are on a par with an ordinary Air India flight, airport sources said.
The aircraft will be deployed to fly in the domestic sectors in the beginning and will be put on the international sectors in the forthcoming winter schedule.
Keywords: Air India, Dreamliner maiden trip
Like Air India, JAL also poses the question of how it overcomes
stagnation in its domestic markets and takes advantage of the boom in
air traffic to and from the rest of Asia with Dreamliner forming part of
that strategy. No more debates on dreary issues like the naming of
Dreamliners but a single minded devotion by its staff from the boss to
the pilots and the staff at the ground level on how to give cheering
news to the people. Lastly tenets of political accountability and
official responsibility need reminding.
JAL, a Japanese airlines has come back from the brink of bankruptcy
after it was “lavishly supported by the government”. It is sad that
our Air India merger exercise was handled poorly. Look at what the JAL
recovered. Every quarter its employees from the boss to pilots and
ground staff spend a day studying a white little book ‘its turnaround
manual and some discuss it in department meetings every day.’
Comparing this with what had happened in Air India would only further
embitter public dissatisfaction. Inadequacy of ministerial vision and
guidance, management failures and employees’ and their unions’ apathy
are the causes. When 243 insurance companies with different cultures
and traditions could be merged by hie country succecssfully into LIC
in just four years, merging two airlines has stalled miserably. Like
Air India, JAL also poses the question of how it overcomes stagnation
in its domestic markets and takes advantage of the boom in air traffic
to and from the rest of Asia
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