Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrashekaran speaks during the unvealing of Air India's new logo and livery colours.
Credit: PTI Photo
Tata-group-owned Air India has entered an intermodal interline agreement with AccesRail to boost connectivity options for Air India passengers across Europe, even to smaller cities that lack airport infrastructure on a single ticket.
As per the company, this strategic accord permits Air India travellers to use a single intermodal ticket and take on-ground train and bus connections to over 100 cities and towns in Austria, Belgium, Germany, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, and the United Kingdom via its European gateways of Amsterdam, Birmingham, London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Milan, and Vienna. Customers will have the same baggage allowance on these rail or bus operator services as offered on Air India's flights, the company said in a statement.
“The expansion of our global network is one of our key priorities in the ongoing, comprehensive transformation of Air India. This partnership with AccesRail not only helps us to provide our guests easy access to an extended network of destinations across Europe but also to bridge the gaps in connectivity between India and Europe,” said Nipun Aggarwal, Chief Commercial & Transformation Officer, Air India.
Currently, intermodal tickets with Air India are available for booking through travel agents globally. The airline also plans to extend the facility to its own sales channels progressively.
AccesRail’s network of rail and bus operators including Avanti West Coast (UK), Great Western Railways (UK), London North Eastern Railways (UK), National Express (UK), Trenitalia (Italy), ÖBB Austrian Railways (Austria), SNCB Belgian Railways, and Thalys (Netherlands/Belgium) are available under this agreement.
“We are excited to be launching our Air India-AccesRail cooperation and look forward to continuing with Air India on a global scale with so many of our intermodal rail and coach partners,” said Andrew Popescu, Vice President Business Development, AccesRail.
With more airlines integrating air and rail connections globally, this market is growing rapidly. Earlier this year, Indian full-service carrier Vistara partnered with WorldTicket to offer Deutsche Bahn train network rail connections from Frankfurt to Germany and other European cities on a single itinerary.
Last year Dutch flag carrier KLM started rail connections between Brussels and Paris using French 'TGV' high-speed trains. Lufthansa, Air France and Vueling Airlines are other global carriers that offer air-rail tickets for seamless connectivity from the airport to various cities throughout the country.