Now, short announcements to greet passengers on AI flights

Announcements in Air India flights will soon be short, crisp and without errors to ensure passengers are not disturbed by them.

After feedback from fliers, the airline has finalised a new set of announcements that will not be repetitive. Also, to ensure zero error, Air India will do away with manual announcement and have pre-recorded announcements for different circumstances and destinations.

The details of destination weather and rules related to arrival are announced just before landing and often, crew members commit mistakes in reading it out from the booklet.

“Earlier, after landing, we used to announce that passengers who have kept their mobile, sunglasses, wallets and other items in the front seat, should not forget to take it with them. Now, it has been changed to “passengers are reminded to take items, which they have kept in the front seat”. Like this, we are making the announcement short,” said an Air India official.

Another official, however, said safety instruction announcements would not be changed.

In a two-hour flight, Air India usually made 10-12 announcements, but the frequency is now reduced to eight.

“Once a passenger starts boarding, we start with announcement related to fuelling, then introduction of crew and welcome announcement by pilot. Then we move to safety instruction and after take-off, announcements are made related to refreshment. Now, we will have just one announcement in the beginning giving details of crew and welcoming the passengers. Instead of announcements every five minutes, we will have one announcement with all the details,” the official said.

“Our objective is to make it short and crisp and relevant. The recorded statement will be used to ensure zero error,” Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani said.