The ten-day strike at the state-owned Air India holds a new lesson for the airline, and one which could perhaps change the way passengers currently fly on some of the key domestic routes. The airline, having experimented with the model during the strike as a contingency move, plans to operate twin aisle wide-body aircraft, similar to ones used on international sector, on the high density trunk routes, said senior airline sources.
“Air India may turn out to be the first one to deploy wide-body aircraft on the domestic sector. The move will be a game changer in the domestic market,” said the source. To begin with, at least two wide-body Airbus A-330s will be deployed with onward connections to foreign locales like Singapore, Dubai and Bangkok. “The move will help airline to ramp up its operations revenues,” said the sources. The operations of wide-body aircraft, which can carry up to 290 fliers each, are likely to be finalised in two weeks.
During the strike the airline had deployed two twin-aisled Airbus A-330s on Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi- Bangalore-Chennai sectors.
08/05/11 Smita Aggarwal/Indian Express
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