Air India, now owned by Tata Group, has revised its travel policy, mandating all employees, including CEO Campbell Wilson, to take economy-class flights on domestic work-related trips. The new policy, replacing the existing practice of booking business-class seats for on-duty staff (SOD), will be applicable from April 1 for senior executives (vice president and above) and from June 1 for everyone else.

Centre Stage for Customer-Focused Approach

An Air India representative confirmed the announcement, saying, “With this, we intend to make sure that our Business and Premium Economy seats, which are witnessing mammoth demand, are up for booking to our customers first, reflecting a customer centric culture in the new Air India.”

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Since Tata’s acquisition in January 2022, premium seat demand has dramatically increased with an airline official stating that demand has increased more than two-fold.

Policy Changes and Upgrade Criteria

The carrier officially informed the staff about the policy change through an email on Monday. Under the new rules, all business-related travel will enjoy a confirmed economy seat rather than the old business-class allocation. However, “staff on duty can be upgraded to premium economy or business if a seat is confirmed to be empty before flying,” the official added.

Increasing Premium Offerings

At present, all 53 Vistara A320 family aircraft owned by Air India post-merger have premium economy seating. Also, 14 new A320Neo aircraft with three-class configurations have been inducted so far. The airline currently operates about 50,000 premium economy seats a week, which will go up to 65,000 weekly seats once the retrofits are done by October.