Travel in the lap of luxury: Maharaja plans big for direct US flights

The Boeing 777 will feature new livery.

Air-India is planning to provide a host of new value-added services on its non-stop flights to the US.

Other than free pick-ups from airports, the airline will also provide onboard telephony and CCTV facilities for the first and business class travellers.

The state-owned carrier, which will soon induct Boeing B777-200 LR aircraft for its non-stop service, has also drawn up plans to provide a series of in-flight entertainment for its passengers on the Mumbai-New York flights, starting August 1.

Sources said Air-India would be taking delivery of Boeing B777-200 LRs by this month-end. "The aircraft would have wall-mounted satellite telephones that allow passengers to make calls to anyone, anywhere in the world while travelling. It would have landscape camera systems," sources added.

Industry players pointed out that the national carrier was positioning itself as a premium service with non-stop flights as various private players are eyeing the US destinations with advanced in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems.

Recently, Jet Airways displayed its IFE systems on its Boeing B777 aircraft, which will fly to the US via Brussels in the three-class configuration.

The new 238-seater aircraft has been configured with 8 seats in the first class, 35 in the business class and 195 economy seats. Each first class seat, designed for privacy, is 23 inches wide and has a seat pitch of 80 inches, which can turn into flat 31-inch beds. Executive class will have a privacy divider between seats.

The airline executives said Air-India would be the first airline to offer its passengers the first class non-stop travelling experience between Mumbai and New York.

The B777-200 LR will have mood lighting in addition to the main cabin illumination system, providing passengers with a greater degree of control over individual lighting.

The airline is also offering the audio-video on demand (AVOD) system with 400 hours of video content in all the classes. The in-built audio jacks on every seat will be equipped with a special noise cancellation feature.

Passengers will also be provided PC power and USB ports integrated into each seat to enable the use of laptops, keyboards and MP3 players.

The new flights will significantly reduce travel time, with the airline planning to cover the Mumbai-New York route in 15.55 hours and the New York-Mumbai round in 15.15 hours. The flight duration is at least two hours less compared with the one-stop services offered by other airlines.