On Indian routes, Air France, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are offering premium economy seating
International airlines are luring Indian customers with premium economy seating, which offer more leg room, better meal options and bonus miles for frequent flyers.
Singapore Airlines unveiled its premium economy product in Mumbai on Saturday and will roll out the service on Singapore-Delhi route from October 25 and on Singapore-Mumbai route from January 2.
From October 25, Lufthansa and Air China will also offer premium economy service on the Mumbai-Munich and Mumbai-Beijing routes respectively. Singapore Airlines will introduce premium economy seating on Mumbai route from January 2. Last month, Lufthansa introduced premium economy service on Mumbai-Frankfurt route.
Singapore Airlines will have the premium economy seats on its existing 38 Airbus A380 and Boeing 777-300 ER planes and new 20 A350 planes which will enter into service from 2016.
On the India routes, Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 aircraft will feature 36 premium economy seats. The A380 has 471 seats including 399 economy seats. While the airline has retained the number of first class and business class seats (12 and 60 respectively) it has reduced the number of economy class seats to 333 and added 36 premium economy seats. Its inaugural offer premium economy return fare on Mumbai-Singapore route is Rs 45,000 which is 60 per cent higher than its economy class fare. Business class fares are nearly four times the economy class fares on the route.
“The premium economy product offering has been specifically tailored to provide economy class passengers an alternative for medium-long haul travel with extra comforts,” said David Lau, general manager (India), Singapore Airlines.
The changes in configuration will help Singapore Airlines boost its yield on long haul routes. Singapore Airlines is a network carrier and about half of passengers it flies from India travel onward to Australia, New Zealand, East Asia and the US. The airline faces competition on these routes from Air India and other East Asian carriers and thus its premium economy seat would be a service differentiator and the airline hopes economy class passengers will switch to the premium economy seats.
On Indian routes, Air France, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic also offer premium economy seating. Cathay Pacific, however, withdrew the premium economy service on Indian and Gulf routes earlier this year.
“The Premium Economy offering will be ideal for leisure travellers with higher budget and for business travellers with constrained budgets,” said Lufthansa’s director (South Asia) Wolfgang Will. Lufthansa already offers premium economy service on its flights to Delhi and Bengaluru.
“We are hopeful that more and more corporates include premium economy in their travel policy and with both international and domestic airlines introducing the cabin on their flights we definitely see bright prospects for this cabin. We don’t see a drop in Upper Class passengers (equivalent to a business class) as that segment will continue to travel upper but more and more leisure travellers, students and passengers from small and medium enterprises are opting to buy premium economy on London and US routes,” said a Virgin Atlantic spokesperson.
