Kolkata: Days after Emirates and Thai Vietjet announced four-class and three-class cabin configurations on their respective flights to Dubai and Bangkok, domestic carrier IndiGo Airlines announced a two-class configuration in its cabin on flights to Delhi and Mumbai. At present, Air India offers business class seats on its flights, while Air India Express has business class on select flights to Chennai, Bengaluru, and Jaipur.
Travel agents in Kolkata said the introduction of business class on 11 flights to Delhi starting Sept 12 and on three flights to Mumbai from Sept 16 has triggered excitement among flyers. Executives, businessmen, and traders who prefer flying IndiGo because the airline offers the highest frequency on most sectors, said they were willing to pay more for better comfort.
"Jet Airways set the benchmark in business class. Kingfisher also had a good product. After the two went bust, there was Vistara and Air India. After the merger, only AI had business class. But since it did not have many flights, passengers had to compromise on flexibility of travel to avail of it. The introduction of business class by IndiGo will make a big difference," said Travel Agents Federation of India national executive committee member Anil Punjabi.
SpiceJet does have a product called SpiceMax that offers greater legroom and priority check-in, but it is essentially a premium economy offering. While all 11 daily flights that IndiGo operates to Delhi from Kolkata will offer IndiGo Stretch, which includes meals and beverages, higher baggage allowance, and priority check-in, only three out of eight flights will offer business class. "As more aircraft with twin configurations are available, more flights to Mumbai will offer business class," said an official. In addition to Stretch, the airline has a Stretch+ offering that provides an even higher baggage allowance and lower cancellation fee.
Travel Agent Association of India chairman (east) Anjani Dhanuka said the business class offering would do well as business class in Air India flights from Kolkata have an average occupancy of 65-70%, with some Delhi and Mumbai-bound flights going full. "At present, people who wanted extra legroom on IndiGo flights used to pay for first row or emergency seats. Those travelling to Delhi or Mumbai will now buy business class seats. There is also a good demand on the Kolkata-Bengaluru sector where IndiGo has 10 flights a day," he said.