The latest to catch on is the national carrier Air India which has now decided to go in for a new model of first class on its new 777 series planes to be deployed for long haul-flights and has also entered into a $50 million pact with Italian seat manufacturer Avio Interior for getting state-of-the- art seats for these aircraft.

The move to select these new seats comes after the carrier asked top honchos of India Inc to give their suggestions on improving the facilities and seating arrangements of first class and business class. The revamped structure of Air India’s planes and the new seats are thanks to suggestions from CEOs like Ratan Tata and Deepak Parekh.

In its efforts to improve the amenities and enhance passenger experience in long-haul flights, the airline is now planning to have only four first class seats on eight of its 301 seater 777-200 LR and 15 of its 365 seater 777-300 ER aircraft. A bulk of these aircraft will be deployed on the airlines long-haul routes to US and Europe.

Moreover, in a bid to optimise its returns from non-core operations, national carrier Air India is beefing up its cargo-handling business.

The airline, which had recently won a contract to handle cargo for the greenfield Bangalore International Airport (BIAL), plans to invest Rs 41 crore for building a state-of-the-art cargo complex at the new venture. It is also in the race for setting up a similar facility at the greenfield Hyderabad airport.

A-I, along with Singapore Airlines ground-handling unit Singapore Airport Terminal Services Ltd (SATS) and another consortium of Bangalore-based Bobba Group and UK’s Menzies Global Aviation, had won a contract to handle cargo at BIAL.

All the parties are expected to put in close to Rs 40 crore each for setting up the cargo complex. The contract entails the players running the freight-handling service for a period of 20 years from April 2008 when the operations of the airport are expected to commence.

The AI-SATS consortium are considering two options of building either a single storey cargo complex or a two level cargo complex. A-I is also seeking architectural and project management consultancy services for the project which it expects to complete in the next 18 months, senior AI officials said.

Even though cargo handling revenues for A-I are minuscule at over Rs 50 crore, the sector is expected to grow rapidly on the back of rising air cargo volume. Bangalore airport alone currently sees a cargo traffic of 1.2 lakh tonnes annually which is expected to reach over three lakh tonnes in the next three years.

A-I is expecting to complete the cargo complex—which will have state-of-the-art facilities such as automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS), lowerable workstations, cold rooms and dangerous goods room— by January 2008.