Update (04 October 2024): According to Air India’s website (archived link), the airline does not currently offer a fixed percentage concession for senior citizens on its flights. However, Air India does provide concessions for senior citizens. Senior citizens of Indian nationality, permanently residing in India, and aged 60 years or older at the time of travel are eligible for discounts on domestic economy class flights. To clarify, Factly contacted Air India, and an official confirmed that the airline does not offer a flat 25% or 50% concession for senior citizens on any domestic flights, nor does it provide any fixed concession on its flights. The official also stated that senior citizen concessions vary based on the route and are subject to change from time to time.
A post is being shared on social media claiming that the Ministry of Civil Aviation has announced a 50% concession on Air India base ticket fares for senior citizens over 60 years. The post claims that all senior citizens of Indian nationality, including NRIs and OCI holders, are eligible to avail of these benefits from Air India. Adding that this scheme was applicable for only domestic flights, the post credited the special scheme to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The post provided a link directing to the official website of Air India. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Ministry of Civil Aviation announced the 50% concession on Air India base ticket fares for senior citizens over 60 years.
Fact: The TATA Group took over Air India from the government in January 2022, and is presently managing the complete operations of Air India. Following the takeover, the Tata Group reduced the senior citizen concession from 50% to 25% in September 2022. Even during the UPA government, before 2014, the then-state-run Air India airlines provided 50% concession to senior citizens over 63 years in domestic flights. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
The link provided in the post directs us to the senior citizen concession section on the ‘Air India’ website. In the senior citizen concession section of the website, Air India stated that a senior citizen of Indian Nationality, permanently residing in India and should have attained the age of 60 years on the date of commencement of the journey, is eligible to avail 25% discount of basic fare on selected booking classes in the Economy cabin.
The TATA Group took over Air India from the government in January 2022 and is presently managing the complete operations of the Air India. Before the Tata Group took over the Air India company, the then state-run Air India company provided 50% concession to senior citizens over 60 years flying in domestic flights. Following the takeover, the Tata Group reduced the senior citizen concession from 50% to 25% in September 2022.
Even during the UPA government, before 2014, Air India provided 50% concession to senior citizens over 63 years in domestic flights. Currently, Air India offers only 25% concession to senior citizens in their domestic flights, not 50% as mentioned in the post.
To sum it up, the Tata Group-owned Air India currently offers only 25% concession on base ticket fares for senior citizens.
