In late 2021, Air India was privatized, as Tata Group, which was Air India’s initial owner when the company was first founded, took control of the airline again. Since then, executives at the company have been working hard to transform the airline. Suffice it to say that this is no small task, given the state of Air India’s fleet (and that says nothing of the recent crash of AI171, which was another major setback).
In late 2022, Air India revealed that it would refresh the interiors of its Boeing 777 and 787 aircraft, with all new cabins, including fresh premium seats. On top of that, in early 2023, Air India placed a landmark order for hundreds of Airbus and Boeing jets, worth tens of billions of dollars.
While the announcement at the time sounded nice, nearly three years later, not a single wide body plane has new interiors. So, what’s the latest? We now have an update, and it looks like progress is finally being made… very slowly.
Air India investing $400+ million in wide body jet interiors
Tata Group intends to refresh the interiors of Air India’s existing long haul fleet. Here’s what we can expect:
- Air India will be refreshing the interiors of its legacy wide body fleet, including all Boeing 787-8s and Boeing 777-300ERs (the legacy Vistara Boeing 787-9s aren’t getting new interiors for now)
- Air India will not only be refreshing all cabins (including new seats, inflight entertainment, and Wi-Fi), but will also introduce a premium economy product across its long haul fleet
- Air India will be retaining the first class cabin on its 777s, while 787s won’t be getting first class
- The planes will not only get new seats, but you can expect the configuration to change as well
- The company has hired London-based JPA Design and Trendworks to assist with this project
So, when can we expect these new interiors to debut on existing aircraft? Initially the plan was for the first reconfigured aircraft to enter service as of mid-2024, with all planes being reconfigured within 2.5 years, meaning by late 2026 or early 2027.
That’s no longer realistic due to supply chain issues, and now the expectation is that the entire retrofit project won’t be complete until late 2028… and that’s best case scenario! The latest plan is for 787s to be reconfigured first, followed by 777s.
The first 787-8 has now been sent to the “shop” to be reconfigured, and the plan is that two 787-8s will be reconfigured and in service by the end of 2025. All 26 legacy Air India 787-8s will be reconfigured by July 2027.
The first 777-300ER is then expected to be reconfigured in early 2027, with the plan being for all 13 of these aircraft to be reconfigured by October 2028.
In the meantime, we’re actually seeing 777-300ERs get a mild interim makeover, consisting of a soft refresh, with new cabin finishes, including seat covers, carpets, and more.
Obviously all airlines have been dealing with supply chain issues, but this is just downright rough. Tata Group acquired Air India in late 2021, and it’ll be over five years before the first 777 is reconfigured. Ouch.
Air India’s long haul fleet is a hodgegpoge of planes
Keep in mind that in addition to its existing legacy long haul fleet, Air India is leasing some jets that used to fly for other airlines, mostly on a fairly short term basis (meaning that these planes likely won’t be in Air India’s fleet in a decade). This is both intended to improve the passenger experience, and to add capacity.
For example, Air India has been leasing six former Delta Air Lines Boeing 777-200LRs and six former Etihad Airways Boeing 777-300ERs.
These planes are all significantly more premium than Air India’s existing long haul aircraft, and feature direct aisle access and fully flat seats in business class. Furthermore, the Delta jets feature premium economy, while the Etihad jets feature first class.
On top of that, Air India has started flying some Airbus A350-900s, which were initially intended for Aeroflot, so they have non-standard interiors, compared to Air India’s planned new layouts.
My take on Air India’s wide body cabin upgrades
I am happy to see Air India’s investment in its product, though of course it’s frustrating how slow this is all happening. Not only does the airline have a woefully outdated business class on Boeing 777s (in a 2-3-2 configuration with angled seats), but the cabins on many Air India planes are basically falling apart.
Here are some thoughts on the general cabin mixture we’re seeing on Air India wide body jets going forward:
- It’s interesting that Air India will maintain first class; some airlines have eliminated this while introducing a better business class product, but it seems that Air India is committed to maintaining this
- It’s fantastic that Air India will finally introduce fully flat business class seats with direct aisle access and doors; this will be a quantum leap compared to the current product
- I’m happy to see Air India also introducing premium economy throughout the long haul fleet, as India really seems like a market where there’s value in that, given how long so many flights to the country are
- The only downside to the new cabins is that Air India is going from a 3-3-3 layout in economy to a 3-4-3 layout; this was bound to happen, and matches the industry standard
- Once Air India does introduce this new product on planes, I hope the company invests in maintaining the seats, since that has historically been a major challenge for the airline
Bottom line
Air India plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars updating the cabins on its Boeing 777s and 787s. The airline will maintain first class on 777s, introduce a new business class, add premium economy on all long haul planes, and also update the economy product.
This is all great news, though the terrible news is the timeline. While this project was supposed to start as of mid-2024, the first 787 with new cabins is now expected to enter service in late 2025, while the first 777 won’t be reconfigured until early 2027.
The current plan is that all 787-8s will have new interiors by July 2027, and all 777-300ERs will have new interiors by October 2028. All of that is best case scenario.
What do you make of Air India’s plans to update its cabins?
