All are painted in the "Palace in the Sky" livery.
Air India also has signed an agreement with another airline to acquire 2 747-400s on lease effective December 2001. Also, there is a tentative agreement in place to acquire 4 A310-300s from March.
Fly707 From United States of America, joined Oct 2001, 343 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (11 years 6 months 2 weeks 6 days 23 hours ago) and read 807 times:
Fanofjets From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 1895 posts, RR: 3 Reply 3, posted (11 years 6 months 2 weeks 6 days 23 hours ago) and read 798 times:
Indeed... the first scheme appeared in the late 1980s and lasted until around 1991. Before all aircraft could be painted that way, many Indians demanded a return of the Palace scheme (which is much more distinctive than the brief experimental scheme).
The current Air India scheme, along with the one that appeared in the mid 1960s on the 707s, are in my opinion among the classiest. Let's hope the makers of model and kit airliners take note!
The aeroplane has unveiled for us the true face of the earth. -Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Sdate747 From United States of America, joined Oct 2000, 272 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (11 years 6 months 2 weeks 6 days 23 hours ago) and read 781 times:
I was at the Oberoi Towers in 1992 for the low pass made by an Air India B742 to celebrate the new livery. I think it was in line with the "white" look other carriers were opting for. But, I guess the tail didn't stand out, and so they went back. Not like it matters, no amount of livery can substitute the poor overall quality service from this flag carrier. Sad but true
DarnellJ From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 5, posted (11 years 6 months 2 weeks 6 days 20 hours ago) and read 754 times:
Sdate747, whereas your litany of "poor overall quality service" seems to be the norm among Indian expatriots who fly other carriers primarily, my personal experiences as well as those of others on the Trip Reports forum who have tried the airline in the recent past have shown their premium product to be sufficient, with service being the shining star. After reading about the service cuts being made by airlines such as UA in their Business Class, Air India becomes even better value for money.
There is an excellent primer available about the history of Air India liveries that I was able to pull up by using the "search" feature.
Jaysit From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 6, posted (11 years 6 months 2 weeks 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 732 times:
I flew Air India recently in Business Class and had a good experience overall. The seats were comfortable and the service and food were good. They dont have 30 channels of entertainment and flat bed seats, but they're a lot cheaper than the competition. There is plenty of room for improvement, but I'd rate them higher than any US based carrier I've flown.
Sdate747 From United States of America, joined Oct 2000, 272 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (11 years 6 months 2 weeks 6 days 15 hours ago) and read 700 times:
Well, Air India may have some good service but the airline is leaking money, rather gushing money - and politicians shot down the SQ deal when it could have gone through. Now given present conditions, no airline wants to touch it. Air India will be state run for years to come if you ask me.
DarnellJ From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 9, posted (11 years 6 months 2 weeks 6 days 14 hours ago) and read 694 times:
Once again Sdate747, you display the ignorance typical of expatriot Indians. Air India actually declared an operational profit for the last financial quarter before the September 11 events. Their financial position is very strong and they are undertaking a controlled growth campaign to capitalize on their strongest markets in the Middle East and Far East. Controlled growth allows them to dissipate their fixed costs (which unfortunately include labor costs) over a greater spread of items, thus reducing the per unit costs without having to incur significant capital expenditure.
Indianguy From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 10, posted (11 years 6 months 2 weeks 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 671 times:
Suddenly the option of divesting to SQ doesnt seem very attractive to me.
Look what happened to Sabena! After SwissAir went down (and who could have predicted THAT?), SN too followed suit as its investor itself had gone bust!
I dont think AI should be sold now in the current situation. I think the strategy of increasing capacity, albeit thru the lease route is the best strategy. 4 more A310-300's are coming in, along with 2 747-400's.
I hope AI increases frequencies to ORD and make it daily. SIN has 19 weekly flights from BOM, most routed via a secondary destination like MAA, BLR, HYD and DEL. There are 2 non-stops, and with the arrival of more A310 eqpt, i think this should go up to atleast 4/week. The 2 weekly non-stops from BOM-HKG may also be reintroduced in addition to the daily freq. on the BOM-DEL-HKG routing.
I also feel AI should let IC handle BOM-BKK non-stop route instead of leasing its own frequencies to a foreign carrier TG. IC already operates CCU-BKK, BLR-BKK and MAA-BKK using A320 eqpt. AI can easily code-share with IC instead of TG.
Fanofjets From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 1895 posts, RR: 3 Reply 11, posted (11 years 6 months 2 weeks 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 655 times:
I flew AI, JFK to LHR and back, in economy class, no less. I enjoyed the flight and, being a fan of Indian cuisine, the food as well. The flight attendants were polite and the pilots professional (both landings were smooth as silk). I would have no hesitation to fly Air India again.
The aeroplane has unveiled for us the true face of the earth. -Antoine de Saint-Exupery
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