Premium economy cabin is gaining popularity amongst air travellers from India. Air France and Virgin Atlantic saw a 40% and 60% growth respectively in this class from Indian routes. In view of the growing demand, Virgin Atlantic has increased the number of premium economy seats from 35 to 48 in its airbus A330 aircrafts.
Apart from these two airlines, British Airways, Turkish Airlines and Cathay Pacific also offers premium economy seating on their flights to India. A premium economy section has wider reclining seats and an exhaustive menu in comparison with regular economy class seats. Cathay Pacific also has separate check-in counters at airports for premium economy passengers. Fares in this category are usually 20-30% higher than the lowest economy fare but cheaper than business class. For airlines, premium economy cabin helps in improving its load and yields per flight.
Earlier in the week, Air France had announced that 1.5 million passengers travelled in the premium economy class across its network in the last three years. "The premium economy product has been very successful in India since its launch on Indian routes in 2010. We have seen an increase in preference of this product by our customers this year,'' said Yeshwant Pawar Air France general manager (India).
"We carried about 7,000 passengers in premium economy cabins this year which is a growth of 40% over last year,'' he added. The airline offers this service on its 20 weekly flights to Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi.
According to Stephen King, General Manager, Virgin Atlantic- India, “We have seen a strong demand in Premium Economy from India, with over 60 per cent growth this year to both London and New York from Delhi.
British Airways said nearly 1.2 million passengers fly in its premium economy passengers across the network. It also added that investment plans of five billion pounds for new aircrafts and upgrading its service. However, the airline refused to share India specific data.