The aviation industry in India is witnessing a significant shift in customer service paradigms, with major players like IndiGo and Air India actively integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) to elevate their customer care operations. Both airlines are strategically deploying AI technologies with the core objective of enhancing customer satisfaction by ensuring swift and effective resolution of passenger queries, primarily through advanced virtual assistant systems. This technological pivot aims to dramatically reduce response times and boost the overall efficiency of customer care departments.
IndiGo, a leading low-cost carrier, has already seen remarkable success with its AI chatbot, 6Eskai, launched in November 2023. Reports from Mint indicate a substantial 75 percent decrease in the workload of customer service agents following 6Eskai’s implementation. This innovative virtual assistant, developed in partnership with Microsoft, is powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4, a cutting-edge multimodal language model. GPT-4’s capability to interpret both text and visual inputs allows 6Eskai to provide sophisticated and versatile support to customers.
According to sources within IndiGo, the adoption of 6Eskai has directly translated into tangible business results. “We have observed over 6,000 bookings processed via 6Eskai through our website and mobile app. Furthermore, since March 2024, more than 39,000 boarding passes have been issued using the chatbot,” a company source revealed to Mint. These figures underscore the increasing reliance and confidence customers are placing in AI-driven interfaces for managing their travel needs.
The efficiency gains are not just limited to transaction volumes. “The 6Eskai system currently escalates only 2 to 9 percent of customer interactions to human experts. This is a significant improvement compared to our previous virtual assistant, Dottie, which required human intervention for 14 to 19 percent of chats. This represents an approximate 5 percent increase in efficiency. To continuously refine and improve our AI customer service, we conduct daily analyses of customer chat interactions,” the source elaborated. This proactive approach to monitoring and refining AI performance highlights IndiGo’s commitment to providing superior Indigo Customer Care through technological innovation.
Generative AI, or genAI, is at the heart of this transformation. This branch of AI excels at creating original content – be it text, images, or videos – based on user prompts. Air India, while not specifically mentioned in the context of “indigo customer care”, is also leveraging generative AI to overhaul its customer service framework.
Air India launched its generative AI virtual agent, named ‘AI.g,’ in 2023, and it has since managed over two million customer inquiries. AI.g boasts an impressive containment ratio of 93 percent, meaning only 7 percent of queries are routed to human agents. This virtual agent is capable of addressing over 1,300 distinct topics and provides responses that are remarkably human-like, thanks to its access to ‘general knowledge’ – a feature absent in earlier AI customer service tools.
“Beyond direct consumer applications, we are also deploying AI, particularly Generative AI, across core enterprise functions. For example, we’ve developed a CoPilot plugin for Microsoft Teams, enabling our staff to ask natural language questions about specific operational areas or performance metrics,” an Air India spokesperson stated, as quoted by Mint. This demonstrates a broader trend of airlines utilizing AI to optimize not just customer-facing operations but also internal processes.
Air India is further enhancing customer experiences by integrating computer vision technologies into its mobile app. Additionally, the airline is expanding the application of artificial intelligence across various marketing functions on its digital platforms. While the focus keyword is “indigo customer care”, the broader context of AI adoption across the airline industry, as exemplified by both IndiGo and Air India, showcases a powerful trend towards more efficient, responsive, and technologically advanced customer service. The advancements in indigo customer care and the wider airline industry signal a future where AI-driven solutions will play an increasingly vital role in passenger interactions and operational efficiencies.
