Air India launches 'Project Abhinandan' for enhanced guest experience at airports

Air India's Project Abhinandan: Tata Sons-owned Air India has on Monday announced that it has rolled out ‘Project Abhinandan’, which aims to provide an enhanced experience to the carrier’s passengers at the airports. As part of its guest enhancement efforts, the airline will offer personalised as well as hassle-free on-ground experience to its guests under this project, it said. For this, the former national carrier has specially trained and deployed 100 Service Assurance Officers at as many as 16 major airports across the country. 

The airline further revealed that these officers would be responsible for providing on-ground assistance to Air India passengers across airport touchpoints should anyone require it. These touchpoints, spanning the typical journey of a passenger at the airport, include the check-in areas, lounges, near the boarding gates, during transit, or at the arrival hall.

In a statement, Air India said that these Service Assurance Officers, who have been trained to “sense passenger concerns at the airports”, would be located throughout these touchpoints and take a proactive approach when it comes to engaging with guests, providing them support, and troubleshooting any issues. They have also been trained to provide to support in cases of issues such as missed flights, missed connections in case of transit, or delayed delivery of luggage, among other things. 

Rajesh Dogra, Chief Customer Experience and Ground Handling Officer, Air India, said, “Airport experiences can be daunting for many air travellers, despite how frequently one travels. ‘Project Abhinandan’ is our sincere effort to simplify the airport experience for our guests and make a meaningful difference to their overall travel experience, and more broadly, to make them feel at ease and welcomed when they fly with us. Flying is a wonderful experience, and we want our guests to enjoy it in the most seamless ways possible. We are constantly evaluating new ways to enhance that experience in our effort to transform Air India into a truly world-class airline. ‘Project Abhinandan’ service is a step in that direction.” 

The service by these specially trained officers would be available to all Air India passengers, irrespective of the cabin class in which they have booked their tickets, the airline said, and this service, at present, would be available to flyers at Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Varanasi, and Vihakhapatnam airports.

The development comes as the airline has been taking proactive measures to redefine, rebrand, and reimagine all aspects of its service, from physical appearance and logos to guest experience. This is especially important to Tata Sons as the conglomerate is working to merge Air India with its other full-service carrier Vistara post the acquisition of the former from the government.