Flew Jaipur Bangalore on 5th April. Highlights of the trip are:
Check-in/ Ground staff is lively and to the point. They have recruited fresh faces and they definitely look motivated. No nonsense fakeness, everything simple and effective is their USP. They seem to have a raw bundled energy wanting to make a mark, find their own niche space in the crowded air transport industry in India.
Punctuality: Their scheduling is aggressive and this leads to some delays. My flight arrived at the scheduled departure time and turnaround was very efficient. 15 mins after the incoming aircraft stopped at the parking bay, we were pushing back :) They should revise schedules a bit to take into consideration minor delays. For example - Jaipur Bangalore flight duration is 2 hours 20 mins, which is OK in perfect conditions but goes for a toss due to multiple factors, a lot of which are not in airline’s control. They should adopt a under-commit and over deliver strategy, something that Indigo does very well. Case in point: Same journey in Indigo’s A320 is pegged at 2 hours 40 mins despite the fact that both A320 and E190 have the same airspeed!
E190 jets: Oh boy, I love these aircrafts. Brand new, simple hassle free interiors, seats that are good enough for a low cost airline(they have slim seats that take less space and therefore is a bit roomy than Indian low cost A320/ B737s). 2 by 2 seating is a very big plus as a 112 seater aircraft (in my opinion) is perfectly suited to cater to Indian routes connecting Indian tier 2/3 cities with the bigger counterparts. Neither too small or slow, nor too big and crowded! Less no. of people in cattle class certainly enhances the overall experience. How about calling it the only ’premium cattle class’ offering in India? :)
On-board staff: Simple menu of AFS food products. No nonsense flying - No unnecessary magazines or frills. Yes, water is available for free on request even 4 times during the flight. :)
Landing and baggage: Must appreciate the captain for the smoothest landing experienced by me in last 6-7 years (that’s about 40 + flights). Baggage handling was efficient and on board announcement of carousel number certainly helped!
All in all a very nice flying experience. With tickets priced at 15-20% cheaper than the other LCCs, what really more you can ask for. I would prefer them even at a at-par LCC pricing but they should focus a little more on improving reliability with time. Thanks for reading. :)