Air India plans to introduce iPads, pre-loaded with films and documentaries, to its business and first class passengers on international flights.
New Delhi: Looking to plug losses after a failed bid to privatise the national carrier, the central government is working on improving Air India’s in-flight entertainment system, on the lines of Europe’s largest airline Lufthansa.
The government is also contemplating making the debt-ridden airline a private limited company.
The carrier has proposed to introduce iPads to passengers in business and first class on international flights which would be pre-loaded with feature films and documentaries, including educational and commercial fare as well children’s films. As of now, it is set to procure 150 iPads.
The move comes after repeated complaints over malfunctioning of the airline’s existing old, worn out in-flight systems.
Last month, NITI Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar told ThePrint that the government is considering a complete overhaul of Air India into a publicly traded company run by an independent corporate board, much like the German carrier Lufthansa.
Deal with I&B ministry
Air India is set to sign an agreement with the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) — a PSU under the information and broadcasting ministry — to source its feature films and documentaries as well as those made by the Children’s Film Society of India (CFSI), and Films Division (FD). NDFC will also procure commercial feature films from the industry across different genres and languages.
The NFDC will also be tasked with uploading the content on the iPads and keep updating the catalogue with fresh titles every three months.
To shape the deal, I&B secretary Amit Khare and Air India chairman and managing director Pradeep Singh Kharola met early last month.
The move will benefit both Air India and the film units, which were thought to be turning redundant.
While the government has been considering the sale of Air India, the I&B ministry had been considering merging of film units into NFDC as against letting all the units operate independently in their current form.
‘Win-win’
It is learnt that at present Air India has engaged a foreign company at around Rs 30 crore to show Indian films to its passengers in-flight, but is now keen on scrapping the contract.
The I&B ministry is currently preparing a list of films from its media units for in-flight entertainment purposes.
Around 300 films of NFDC,109 Documentaries produced by FD and 38 films from CFSI will be used for inflight entertainment in Air India.
Talking to ThePrint, an official said it would be a win-win situation for the film units as well as Air India.
“We know NFDC as well as FD have a rich collection of award-winning films and important documentaries of landmark events and personalities. Showing them on international flights of Air India will also help the purpose of spreading knowledge of India’s culture to other parts of the world and would be entertaining to passengers,” the official said.
The carrier is also learnt to have been planning to raise revenue by way of advertisements through in-flight entertainment, increasing cargo earnings as well as monetising land assets and bringing down catering expenses.
Air India CMD Pradeep Singh Kharola remained unavailable for comment.