Air India Limited is the national airline of India, flying a worldwide network of passenger and cargo services. With 159 airplanes in its fleet, the National Aviation Company of India Limited administers the state-owned Air India and Indian Airlines merger.
Air India is the 16th largest airline in Asia, serving 25 destinations worldwide, and, with its affiliated carriers, serves over 100 cities. Air India has codeshare agreements with 13 other international airlines in 2010; Air India is expected to join Star Alliance, the world's largest airline alliance.

Air India is India's finest flying Ambassador. The urge to excel and the enthusiasm, which characterised Air India's first flight, way back on October 15, 1932, is quintessential even today - thanks to Air Indian who have kept alive the tradition of flying high. The recent merger of Air India and Indian, the country’s leader in the domestic sector, has helped the airline to emerge as a major force in the airline industry. The re-branding exercise is currently underway and passengers are getting to see the unified face of the new invigorated Air India. The merged entity, which presently has a fleet of 136 aircraft, offers passengers seamless travel across domestic and international routes.  
Air India is gradually expanding its fleet. Seventeen new aircraft - eight B777-200LRs and nine B777-300ERs have so far joined the fleet apart from 15 Airbus A-321s and 16 A-319s. On the international network Air India now operates 28 weekly services to three destinations in the USA - New York, Newark and Chicago including a daily NonStop flight between Mumbai-New York and Delhi-New York following the induction of brand new Boeing 777-200LR in its fleet. With a fleet of 136 aircraft, Air India has been gradually expanding its network to cover new destinations in India and abroad.

In Economy Class the 3-3-3 abreast seats with a pitch of 33 inches and a 6-inch recline are 18 inches wide.  All the seats, except those in the front row, have a roller type therapeutic leg rest installed in front for added comfort.  In-flight Entertainment - Passengers can enjoy 350 hours of audio video on demand.  There is something for each and every passenger – movies, games, news and music.  State-of-the-art Thales i500 inflight entertainment system, which provides high noise immunity, makes travelling on the long haul flights a pleasure.  A USB port in all classes enables passengers to connect electronic devices, e.g. digital camera, keyboard, MP3 player and mobile phone.

In its ever-growing quest for providing direct services from various points in India, Air India currently operates international flights from Mumbai and 16 other Indian cities, viz. Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Jaipur, Varanasi, Tiruchirapalli, Gaya and Thiruvananthapuram. Commencement of international operations from these cities has obviated, to a very large extent, the need for passengers from these regions to necessarily travel to Mumbai and Delhi, the traditional gateways, for taking international flights. Passengers boarding or deplaning in these cities can now complete their immigration and custom formalities at their city airport, both at the time of departure and arrival. Air India’s global network currently, region-wise, is:
Frequent Flyer Programme
Air India has a Frequent Flyer Programme branded "Flying Returns”. Members of the Flying Returns Programme (FRP), the most attractive FRP for the Indian traveller, can accrue mileage points while flying on Air India, Lufthansa and flights of Air India’s code share partners, and redeem them for award tickets on Air India or Lufthansa. Through tie-ups with leading hospitality-associated organisations in India, members can earn additional mileage points to redeem their tickets faster. "Flying Returns" has a membership of nearly 6,00,000 in India, the Gulf, UK, USA, Canada and South-East Asia.

With a quantum jump in product profile resulting from induction of new aircraft and consequent expansion of network, Air India will be all set to join the Star Alliance by middle of 2010. Star Alliance, is a leading global airline alliance of 21 top international carriers. Once Air India becomes a member, passengers will enjoy enormous benefits, including seamless transfers while travelling across the world, more frequent flyer mileage points, code-sharing leading to a wider choice of flights and access to lounge facilities worldwide. The Star Alliance network offers more than 17,000 daily flights to 916 destinations in 160 countries.
Dining
Dining aboard Air India is a gourmet experience. The airline offers a choice of menus to suit all types of palates - Indian and Continental. Apart from these, there is western nouvelle cuisine, an appetizing choice of Asian specialities, and even Japanese meals on the India-Japan route. Besides, if any passenger has a special food requirement, he can choose from any of the 23 special meals, details of which are also available The meal preference can also be intimated through the travel agent while making reservation. The menus are constantly revamped and the wines carried on board live up to the food they complement! Meals are served to First Class passengers in bone china crockery. Alcoholic beverages are served complimentary in all classes.

The selection of music on board Air India aircraft would be the envy of any radio station. Passengers can choose from Indian popular music, Indian Classical, Ghazals, Bollywood hits and from Western Classical, Pop, Jazz, Country and Nostalgia. A special channel for Regional songs has been compiled to suit all passengers coming from different regions. A Japanese channel is available for our Japanese passengers. Air India's video programmes include a choice of the most recent English and Hindi feature films. One-hour video magazine represents the finest in comedy, nature & wildlife, adventure, action and life style. There are special movies in Tamil and Malayalam selected for passengers travelling from Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode and Chennai to the Gulf and Singapore.

Besides the much-talked about and appreciated inflight service on board, ground facilities have also been upgraded. Air India's lounge for transit passengers at Mumbai Airport is equipped with shower facilities, specially designed slumberettes, Wi-Fi, a gymnasium and a business centre. First and Executive Class passengers can surf the net or send e-mail in the comfort of our business centre located in the Maharajah Lounge while waiting for their flight to depart. There is a lounge for unaccompanied minors as well. Air India has its own exclusive lounges at Delhi, London, Hong Kong and New York in addition to the one in Mumbai. At other international airports, Air India has tie-ups with other international airlines or local Airports Authorities for lounge facility.

Maharaja Lounge means "Emperor's Lounge", and is offered to First and Business class passengers. Air India shares lounges with other international airlines at London-Heathrow airports that do not have a Maharaja Lounge available. There are five Maharaja Lounges, one at each of the five major destinations of Air India,

Air India has won the Galileo Express Travel World Award 2008 for the Best Short-Haul International Airline. The award was presented to Air India on December 10, 2008. Air India has an extensive network covering all major destinations in the Gulf and South East Asia from most major Indian cities. Air India has previously been a recipient of the Galileo Express Travel World Award for the “Best International West Bound Airline out of India” for three successive years as well as for launching the “Best Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative.”
Air India was also conferred the prestigious Amity Corporate Excellence Award instituted by the Amity International Business School, Noida, Uttar Pradesh to honour Corporate with distinct vision, innovation, competitiveness and sustenance. It also won the Special category Award which recognises the Most significant corporate Social Responsibility initiative (CSR) taken by an organisation.


Air India had won four other prestigious awards in 2006:

	Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) which ranked the airline as the first in terms of revenue out of the
	top airline companies out of India;
	Reader’s Digest Trusted Brand Award;
	CNBC Awaaz Consumer Award 2006; and ‘Best South Asian Airline’ award by readers of TTG Asia,
	TTG China, TTG Mice and TTG-BT Mice China, all renowned Mice & business travel publications.

The awards are an eloquent testimony to passengers’ faith in Air India and the airline’s continued effort to ensure consumer satisfaction.