Air India to Scarp First Class on US Flights

Air India, India’s national carrier is considering stopping first class seats to its long haul flights to the US after occupancy in the class dropped sharply following the new governments austerity drive.

The central government’s decision to ban first-class air travel by top bureaucrats as part of its austerity drive already hit Air India as government traffic contributes a substantial chunk to its revenues.

According to AI, occupancy in the first class is quite low at 20-25% and this move is likely to continue as many bureaucrats who use political influence to upgrade their seats to first class have stopped this practice following government’s austerity drive.

After AI joining Star Alliance, a lot of redemption's may take place and passengers may prefer to travel first class. AI is the only Indian airline offering first class on a non-stop flight from India to the US and dropping first class seats would mean losing this traffic.