Edition 52
Last week, Air India announced the launch of its three class narrowbody routes. The aircraft started operations unannounced on the day of announcement while the formal launch is planned for July 01 between Delhi and Bengaluru. A lot of focus has been on the three class configuration, legroom and service, there is one thing which largely went unnoticed and that is the availability of charging in these aircraft and those being reconfigured later.
The premium economy and economy class cabins have a USB charging port, while the business class has USB and a power socket. Over the years, entertainment has become more personal and it travels with the passenger in a phone or a tab, even when there are screens inflight. At the same time, flights have become longer with narrowbody pushing the envelope even further like the six hours or so on IndiGo’s flight to Bali from Bengaluru or Jakarta from Mumbai. There may not be a limit on how much entertainment you can carry with you on the phone, but there is a limit to the battery life even for the best of phones. Add some power banks to it, the limit extends but does not go away.
Here comes the twist with the USB charger where you enjoy the entertainment at full battery when you land and need the phone the most. So what happens to those who want to work on a laptop? Charging the laptops with USB is possible but tedious and with the seat pitch shrinking, a tad bit challenging in economy.
Will the airline be able to pull passengers to itself over IndiGo? The answer used to lie in cost, but most complaints these days are that IndiGo is no more cheap and in fact the airline has started calling itself “affordable” and not low cost any more. Everything else remaining the same, the USB could well be the pull when there is fleet wide availability. A lot is set to change from now until 2027, hopefully for the better
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