Air India: Revamping Boeing 777 & 787 Cabins with a Long Journey Ahead

Promising Changes at Air India

At the end of 2021, Air India was officially privatized by the Tata Group, marking the return of its original owner since the airline's inception. Since then, the airline's leadership has been tirelessly working to transform its image. However, this task is not without its challenges, especially considering the current state of Air India's fleet.

By late 2022, Air India announced plans to refresh the interiors of its Boeing 777 and 787 aircraft, featuring completely new cabins, including modern business class seats. Early in 2023, the airline ordered hundreds of Airbus and Boeing planes worth tens of billions of dollars. While this news sounds exciting, the actual progress has been quite slow.

Recently, Air India took delivery of its first Boeing 787-9, along with a new business class product. Interestingly, the first refurbished Boeing 787-8 is expected to enter service soon. Let's take a closer look at the details.

Major Investment in Aircraft Interiors

Air India is investing over $400 million to refresh the interiors of its wide-body fleet. The specific plans include:

Refurbishing the interiors of all Boeing 787-8 and Boeing 777-300ER aircraft (the older Boeing 787-9s from Vistara will not be upgraded immediately).

In addition to upgrading cabins with new seating, inflight entertainment, and Wi-Fi, Air India will introduce a premium economy product across its long-haul fleet.

The first-class cabin on the 777 will remain, while the 787 will not feature first class (as far as I know, but supply chain challenges may alter this).

The aircraft will not only be equipped with new seats but will also undergo configuration changes.

So when can we expect these new interiors to be in service on the existing aircraft? The initial timeline was set for mid-2024, with all aircraft expected to complete renovations within 2.5 years, thus by late 2026 or early 2027. However, this is no longer feasible due to supply chain issues, and it is now anticipated that the entire project will not be completed until the end of 2028, in the best-case scenario!

Timeline for Cabin Upgrades on Wide-Body Aircraft

The latest plan prioritizes the refurbishment of the 787s, followed by the 777s. The first aircraft is scheduled to go to the “shop” for renovations in the summer of 2025. As is often the case, prototype aircraft typically require more time to complete.

The good news is that the first 787-8 with the new interior will be operating soon (with registration code VT-ANT), and two more will join the fleet shortly after (with codes VT-ANP and VT-ANC). All 26 of Air India's 787-8s will complete their refurbishments before July 2027.

The first 787-8 with the new interior is expected to fly from Delhi (DEL) to London (LHR) on May 1, 2026, and will expand to Mumbai (BOM) from June 30, 2026, also on the London route. The new configuration will feature 250 seats, including 20 business class seats, 25 premium economy seats, and 205 economy seats. The old configuration had 259 seats, including 18 business class and 241 economy seats.

Changes in the Long-Haul Fleet

The first 777-300ER is expected to be refurbished by early 2027, with plans for all 13 of these aircraft to be upgraded before October 2028. In the meantime, we see the 777-300ERs undergoing light refreshes, including cabin finish replacements, seating, and carpeting.

Since Tata Group took over Air India at the end of 2021, it’s been nearly five years, yet the first 777 remains unchanged. It’s truly a significant amount of time.

Investing in Passenger Experience

Air India is not only maintaining its existing long-haul fleet but also leasing some older aircraft from other airlines, primarily on a short-term basis (meaning these aircraft may not be part of Air India's fleet in the next decade). This aims to enhance passenger experience and increase capacity. For instance, Air India has leased six older Boeing 777-200LRs from Delta Air Lines (currently grounded) and six older Boeing 777-300ERs from Etihad Airways. These aircraft are of much higher quality than Air India's current fleet, featuring direct aisle access and flat-bed seating in business class. Additionally, Delta's aircraft have premium economy, while Etihad's have first class.

Thoughts on Air India's Cabin Upgrades

I personally feel excited to see Air India investing in its products, although I am genuinely disappointed with the pace of this change. The airline not only has outdated business class on its Boeing 777s, but many cabins of Air India's aircraft are in poor condition.

Here are a few thoughts I’d like to share about the cabin coordination on Air India's wide-body aircraft:

Interestingly, Air India is maintaining first class; some airlines have eliminated first class when upgrading business class, but it seems Air India is committed to keeping it.
It’s fantastic that Air India will finally have fully flat business class seats with direct aisle access and privacy doors, which will be a significant improvement over the current product.
I’m also pleased to see Air India introducing premium economy across its entire long-haul fleet, as India is indeed a market with great potential for this, especially given the length of flights to the country.
However, it’s unfortunate that on the 777, Air India is shifting from a 3-3-3 layout to a 3-4-3 in economy; this aligns more with industry standards.

As Air India officially rolls out its new products on the aircraft, I hope the airline will invest in seat maintenance, as this has long been a significant challenge for them.

Conclusion on Air India

Air India is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade the cabins of its Boeing 777 and 787 aircraft. The airline will retain first class on the 777, introduce a new business class, add premium economy across all long-haul aircraft, and also update economy class products. All of this is great news, but unfortunately, the timeline for implementation is extending. Initially expected by mid-2024, the first 787 with the new cabin will now enter service in mid-2026, while the first 777 won't be refurbished until early 2027. The current plan is for all 787-8s to have new interiors by July 2027 and all 777-300ERs to be upgraded by October 2028. Everything is currently in the best possible state.