Air India announced on Thursday it will migrate to the new Passenger Service System (PSS) from February 27 andoperate under a single code — AI.
The flight and IATA ticket codes of erstwhile Air India — 098 — and erstwhile Indian Airlines — 058 — will be merged, and all Air India domestic and international flights will operate as a single airline with AI — 098 ticket code, effective Monday.
“Passengers taking flights out of Mumbai, for instance, will now find new flight numbers — the 8 a.m. flight IC 809 to Delhi/Ranchi will now become AI 809, the IC 675 leaving at 6.10 a.m. to Kolkata will become AI 675, the evening flight IC 107 to Bangalore will be AI 107, IC 173 to Chennai will be AI 173 and so on,” said an Air India spokesperson.
The airline says it has made extensive arrangements to inform passengers about the revised flight numbers through SMS, telephone calls and through travel agents.
At the airport too, flight information displays will show both old and new flight numbers and Air India staff will be on had to assist passengers.
Air India selected SITA, a global systems agency, to provide a Passenger Service System on par with industry standards and meeting the requirements of an airlines alliance. In addition to the core PSS Module, the vendor will provide modules such as Revenue Management System, Revenue Accounting System, Integrated Operations Control Cell and Hub Control, Internet Booking Engine and Loyalty Plus.
“This amalgamation will be a major step in Air India becoming an active partner of Star Alliance, which has the most respected member airlines from Lufthansa, Continental Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Swiss Air, Singapore Airlines, Air China, Air Canada, Air New Zealand, South Africa Airways, etc, having 21,000 daily departures at 1,160 airports in 181 countries,” said the spokesperson.