Air India is planning to remove first-class seats from its international flights to cut losses, making a move that has long been discouraged by government officials who travel on this class, despite its high costs and low occupancies as per an ET report.

Air India currently offers first class in its Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, which it mainly operate on its American routes toNewark, Chicago and routes like Singapore, Jeddah, etc.

The airline has 12 of these planes with four first-class seats each.

"Of the four seats, on an average, only one is occupied, which is around 25% load factor. Usually, these are government officials. The problem we face is that even if there is one person in first class, we have to carry supplies for all four first-class passengers," said the senior official at the airline.

The move to scrap first class is linked to the airline's plans for more cost-effective operations. It has already shifted most of its international flight operations to the Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Additional flights planned to Rome, Milan, and other points in Europe as well markets such as Indonesia and Philippines shall also be served by the Dreamliners. Air India will, however, continue to operate the 777s on its US routes.

Air India has been making losses for the last seven years and surviving mainly on cash handouts from the government. The airline has been hit by cut throat competition, high fuel prices, an ill-managed merger with erstwhile domestic carrier Indian Airlines and the interest burden from the loans to finance a $15-billion aircraft order.

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