Over the next one year, Vistara will merge with Air India, AIX Connect (erstwhile AirAsia India) will merge with Air India Express. This will then see investments from Singapore Airlines with a 25.1% stake in Air India. Even as the work towards this goes on in full swing, future cousins Air India Express and Scoot have started co-operation and in a unique fashion.
Air India Express has signed up with Dohop – a new age technology company which counts Air Baltic, Air France, Air Arabia, flyDubai, Swiss and Scoot amongst its customers. Its distribution partners are Google flights, Kayak and Skyscanner amongst others. Dohop is headquartered in Iceland and focuses on finding connecting itineraries and virtual interline with the help of API (Application Programming Interface). Dohop not only helps with interline but also inter-modal and there are airlines using this functionality. The solution also enables customers to purchase a wide range of ancillary products during the booking process, including a full suite of fare classes and offers, as well as seat maps for each carrier.
This is a customised platform named AIX Connect (Also the name of erstwhile AirAsia India) helps with booking of self-connect itineraries. This will enable booking from India and the Middle East to 60 destinations across Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.
An alternative interlining solution takes away the legacy systems out of the equation. The platform protects guests from misconnections in the event of flight delays or cancellations.
What is in it for the passengers?
Passengers will have a wider choice of destinations on offer with certain Scoot flights being available for booking on the Air India Express website. One leg of the journey will be operated by Air India Express and the other leg by the partner airline, in this case Scoot.
Air India Express has hinted at adding more partners to its platform, especially in the middle east. Air India Express has a strong presence in the MIddle East and has taken over multiple routes from Air India in the recent past.
However, these involve check-in at the transit airport again and not a seamless transfer in most cases. Passengers need to be aware that they may need a visa and will have to collect baggage and re-check in at the intermediate airport. This will change from country to country, airport to airport but has a high probability of being told at check-in that they cannot board because they do not have the right visa. With Singapore not having a visa on arrival regime for Indians, the first partnership needs to be widely publicised to ensure seamless and high use of the new technology.
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