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Mr V. Thulasidas, Chairman & Managing Director, Air India, inaugurates the advance check-in facility for passenger baggage at its headquarters in Mumbai on Monday. — Shashi Ashiwal

Mumbai , June 6

PASSENGERS flying on Air India can hope to enjoy more value-added service in the days to come.

Inaugurating an advance check-in counter located at its head office in the city here on Monday, Mr V. Thulasidas, Chairman and Managing Director, said the airline would announce more customer-friendly services in future.

He told presspersons that passengers taking a flight between 1 am and 9:30 am the following day could check in their baggage between 11 am and 6 pm at the airline head office, thus doing away with the need to check-in more three hours in advance at the airport.

Passengers could then report directly to the airport for immigration and customs - 45 minutes prior to departure time for First and Executive Class and 90 minutes before departure of the flight for Economy Class passengers.

Further, with three more leased Airbus A310 joining the fleet, Air-India would link Seoul and introduce flights to Kuala Lampur and Singapore from Delhi and Mumbai from next month. He added that the airline hoped to appoint an advisor for its IPO this month. The public offering would be completed either in this calendar year or by the end of the current financial year.

He clarified that the IPO proceeds would be used to fund its expansion plans. However, the airline would not depend on these funds for its fleet acquisition plan, for which it had other funding options including commercial borrowings.

The airline had chosen GE engines for its fleet of new aircraft. Further, it expected to receive Government approval for the purchase of B737-800 aircraft this month.

The proposal for the 18 aircraft was forwarded to the Government last December.

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AI launches advance check-in facility

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