The objective is to tap the growing leisure segments in the country as well as to generate additional revenue. This partnership also makes Air India the only airline in India to offer dynamic, online holiday packages to customers and offers customers’ access to an unmatched holiday product. Speaking on the occasion, Air India official said that Air India and tourism has been synonymous. “While package is ancillary revenue stream for us, the role of promoting tourism is the bigger aspect,” the official said.
About 150 packages to 73 domestic and two international destinations are currently available, in standard and deluxe variations, covering select 3 to 5 star properties. More packages and destinations are being added to cover all destinations served by Air India’s flight network, the official said. The packages are in the range of Rs 4,800 to Rs 20,000 per person per night. Deepak Barara, Commercial Director, Air India, said, “This is a big step forward as leisure market is very important. We are trying to stimulate the leisure market. We introduced holiday packages 10 years ago and we are happy to partner with MMT.”
With dynamic airfares model, Air India will offer more discounts, change the premium on demand while MMT will take care of all other services. Moreover, the package will be confirmed like an e-ticket and would include sightseeing tours, hotel stays, and meals. “It is a partnership where we would like to see Air India benefit from our reach. We are trying to create a market to make Indian travel. We remain a committed fulfillment partner where we will do all the on-ground arrangement,” explained Keyur Joshi, Co-Founder and COO, MakeMyTrip.
According to Rohit Nandan, CMD, Air India, Air India Holidays, offers customers a unique, value-added product, leveraging the strength of our network and the credibility of the Air India brand. “It enables Air India to tap into the fast-growing leisure market, even as we play our role in tourism development as India’s national carrier. We are particularly happy to partner with MakeMyTrip, who bring to the initiative their expertise and domain knowledge of the online travel and leisure market,” he added.
According to Air India, the pricing is competitive, totally transparent, and all-inclusive and the all-inclusive package price is displayed upfront. “A typical package would include accommodation on twin-sharing basis, meals, airport transfers, sightseeing and inter-city travel as applicable. The travel itinerary, hotel details, terms and conditions are indicated upfront in the package details tab,” Air India said.
“Our endeavour is to provide competitive land rates and Air India will be giving the best rates according to demand. We have invested in technology and it’s been made available to Air India. There have been partnerships like these before but those are not real time online, and are more brochure based services,” Joshi said.
