PTI

Mumbai: Mounting losses, coupled with a rapidly-falling load factor, has prompted national air carrier Air India to pull out all stops to lure back passengers into its fold and retain their loyalty.

Air India expects to post losses to the tune of Rs3,000 crore in the current fiscal. Its load factor (on domestic routes) declined by 2.9% in September.

In a bid to counter this decline, Air India recently revamped its Frequent Flier Programme (FFP), offering a host of benefits to its customers.

Enhanced benefits to existing members include increased accrual of mileage points, usage of mileage points for upgrading and lower threshold for redemption/renewal, besides free enrolment for new members.

“Keeping in view the current market situation, we have completely revamped our frequent flier programme,” Air India Executive Director (Corporate Communications) Jitendra Bhargava told PTI here.

The minimum threshold limit for redemption/renewal has now been lowered to 10,000 mileage points (inclusive of add-on mileage points and bonus points) from 20,000 mileage points, Bhargava said.

Members can now redeem mileage points for upgrades to the next higher class on select flights of the two state-run carriers (Air India and Indian).

The programme currently has 5.52 lakh members, with the majority of them being domestic travellers.

Air India expects this number to increase significantly following the relaxation in membership norms.