Air India finds a solution to its in-flight entertainment woes, takes a leaf out of Vistara’s strategy

Air India, which was taken over by the Tata Group in 2022, has been at the receiving end on multiple counts. From delays to inflight issues, passenger complaints about the quality of the cabin and broken in-flight entertainment (IFE), among other issues, have been mounting.

But the IFE part is set to change soon.

Over the last few days, travellers reported seeing the ways to connect to “Vista inflight entertainment,” directing users to switch on WiFi on their devices with Airplane mode ON, and visiting a URL to connect to the internet.

Air India is tying up with Bluebox - one of the leading players in streaming in-flight entertainment (IFE) solutions, the same company which powers Vistara’s “Vistara World” application since 2018. Vistara is all set to merge with Air India in the coming months. The development comes after the airline faced flak for non-functional IFE on its legacy fleet.

 

What is Bluebox WOW?

Bluebox WOW creates a captive wireless network and is placed anywhere between two to six locations depending on the type of aircraft to ensure better coverage across the plane. Operational with multiple airlines, including Vistara, which helps stream across cabins and provides the capability of storing up to 1.6 Terabytes of film, TV, audio, games and other digital content. The box is stowed securely in overhead bins, and each box’s single, swappable rechargeable battery delivers up to 15 hours of simultaneously streamed video content. At Vistara, the experience became app-free within one year of starting operations, with passengers being able to experience the content by visiting “VistaraWorld.com” on their Personal Electronic Devices. Air India is also going live with an app-free experience.

 

The boxes are lightweight and the airline need not invest in heavier screens and IFE boxes which take up more space in the aircraft. This also ensures that repair and maintenance costs are next to nil, which otherwise are significant for the screen on each seat back. There are savings with the airline not distributing headsets as passengers can rely on their headsets to enjoy the streaming.

Differentiating the Full-Service experience

Air India is currently refitting its aircraft into a three-class configuration. A handful of these are already in operation. Barring 10, Vistara’s planes are also in three-class configuration and will help standardise offerings with the merger. With the refit, Air India has managed to add more seats even after it added one more class of service, and this was done by reducing the seat pitch.

The seatback IFE became popular in India with Kingfisher Airlines, which was quickly followed by Jet Airways. While Kingfisher Airlines went down, Jet Airways seemingly shifted to operating the screens with content only on international flights, since the content was paid for by users. The airline, thus, carried the weight of the IFE but utilisation was limited.

IndiGo is doing a trial of an IFE solution. IndiGo has also announced business class cabins starting this year and is working on a loyalty program. This gets IndiGo and Air India in the same space. Pre-privatisation, and post the demise of Jet Airways, Vistara and Air India were the only two full-service carriers. What is then the differentiator for Air India?

Tail Note

Air India had earlier announced that its wide-body fleet will start refurbishment in the second half of 2024. Various media reports have indicated that it is delayed, though the airline has no far not given a new timeline. The decision to go ahead with Bluebox would well be because of the protracted delay so far. A revamped fleet, especially widebody, would not need Bluebox. However, if the fleet revamp wasn’t in sight and the complaints were visible, what really stopped Air India from implementing this solution? It could well be the supply chain constraint and the inability of the service provider to make available as many boxes to deploy in the planes. A seemingly easy solution could have been implemented much earlier.

The next time you travel in Air India, you may suddenly notice a blue box secured in the overhead baggage compartment, which will give you the happiness of in-flight streaming on your personal device.