Being the official carrier of IIFA Awards 2011 has helped Air India to establish its brand image among the young generation, a senior official said.
"So many people have travelled by Air India, especially the young ones. This has helped the carrier to improve its brand image among the younger generation that used to feel we have old equipment (aircraft). But this IIFA award ceremony has helped us a lot," said Chitra Sarkar, executive director America and Europe.
"For the past few years, we have been inducting new Boeing 777 aircrafts, which has modern equipments, more options in inflight entertainment system and our service quality has definitely been the scoring point over the other carriers," she added.
Air India, which has 96 aircraft, has been the official carrier of the 12th
The national carrier has been operating full flight from Delhi and Mumbai to Toronto since June 21.
It offers around 235 seats per flight to Toronto. During the IIFA Awards inaugural press conference, mascot of Air India - Maharaja - was unveiled by India's Counsel General Preeti Sharan and Sarkar, along with actors Bomman Irani, Rietish Deshmukh and Bipasha Basu.
The official, however, said there were some complaints regarding service. She also said the airline is facing staff crunch, but it would be soon resolved as recruitment process is going on.
Air India is presently going through serious financial crunch and has to delay the payment of salaries its 30,000 employees.
