Air India partners with AVIS to provide chauffeur services in 17 cities with discounts up to 20%

Tata-owned Air India has entered a partnership with AVIS India to provide chauffeur services across 17 cities, in a bid to enhance the end-to-end travel experience for its guests.

Under the partnership with AVIS India, Air India guests will be able to book premium, chauffeur-driven cars with discounts of up to 20%. This service is available across 17 cities in India, including Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and Jaipur, among others.

“This partnership with AVIS India underscores our commitment to offering premium travel experiences to our guests at every touchpoint,” said Nipun Aggarwal, Chief Commercial Officer, Air India. “With AVIS India, our guests have safe, comfortable and premium ground transportation options that complement Air India’s world-class service standards on ground or in the air.”

In July, Air India Group lost 1% market share during the month under review at 33.08 lakh passengers against 33.08 lakh carried by the airline in June. Air India had in the last week of June announced a 5% reduction in the domestic capacity to carry out comprehensive checks on its fleet.

CEO opens up on recent snags

Air India CEO Campbell Wilson has said the recent spate of technical snags and diversions were "entirely normal" for an airline of its scale. He instead pointed to operational gains such as on-time performance crossing 80% in August and a widening domestic network with new flights to Jaisalmer, Dehradun and other cities.

The recent remarks, in an email to staff, follow the June 12 crash of Air India flight AI 171 in Ahmedabad that killed 260 people and put the Tata-owned carrier under intense scrutiny.

Air India has been reporting multiple technical incidents and precautionary diversions, many of which have drawn headlines. Wilson told staff that with more than 1,200 departures daily across Air India and Air India Express, the scale of operations explains the number of incidents.

The DGCA has issued enforcement actions against AI, several triggered by the airline's voluntary disclosures.