Come Sunday, single code to redefine flying with AI

After over three-year wait, passengers flying in the domestic and international sector of Air India will get the benefits of flying with one airline. The airline has announced to fly under AI code for all its domestic and international flights from Sunday.

As of now, the airline had IC codes for flights in the domestic sector and AI code for flights in the international sector. Single code for the airline was also a must for airline’s entry to the Star Alliance.

“February 27 will be a great day in the history of aviation industry in India; when flight and IATA ticket codes of Air India (098) and erstwhile Indian Airlines (058) will be merged together and all Air India domestic and International flights will operate as a single airlines with AI (098) ticket code,” said a release from Air India.

The codes of all ‘IC’ coded flights have been changed to ‘AI’ and the airline has made arrangements to inform passengers about revised flight numbers through various means.

With one code, any passenger going to London from Kolkata via Delhi will not have to check in at two places and can get his boarding passes in Kolkata itself. Currently, a passenger has to check-in in Kolkata for the Delhi flight, which is an IC flight, and again in Delhi for the flight to London.

With the single code passengers can also be able to utilise the points earned during international flight in the domestic sector and vice versa, which was not possible now.

In a Rs 800-crore contract for 10 years, Air India has selected SITA to provide passenger service system (PSS).

“In addition to the core PSS Module, SITA also provided various modules like revenue management system, revenue accounting system, IOCC and hub control, internet booking engine and loyalty plus etc,” said the release.