The Air India’s Airbus A350 aircraft, through which the Tata group carrier launched its new brand identity and new product this year, has previously been used to facilitate domestic flights, and the short international hop from Delhi to Dubai.
New Delhi: 2nd September 2024
Air India has launched its newly wide-body flagship, the Airbus A350 aircraft, on the Delhi-London Heathrow route. This marks the long-haul debut of the A350, the first newly manufactured aircraft type operated by an Indian carrier in over 10 years. The airline’s record-breaking order for 470 Airbus and Boeing aircraft began to be delivered in December, when it started receiving the specially designed long-range A350 aircraft. The airline has added six of the forty A350s it purchased in 2023 to its fleet.
The long-life A350 aircraft, through which the Tata group carrier launched its new brand identity and new product this year, has previously been used for domestic operations, as well as the short international hop from Delhi to Dubai. Those operations were widely regarded as warm-ups for its use on long-haul international routes. Due to its long range, A350 aircraft are capable of flying to most of the global markets serviced by Air India today.
As per information published by Airbus, an A350-900 in a standard three-class configuration generally has a carrying capacity of between 300-350 passengers, and a flight range of over 15,000 km. In contrast, the Air India A350-900 aircraft operate in a three-class cabin configuration, with a total of 316 seats, or 28 business, 24 premium economy, and 264 economy.
Beginning this month, Air India’s A350-900 aircraft will replace the 777-300ER and 787-8 Dreamliner planes on 14 of 17 weekly flights from Delhi to London Heathrow. As a result, an additional 336 seats a week will be offered on the Delhi – London Heathrow route.
As a result of this most recent advancement, 90% of Air India’s flights from London Heathrow will now be upgraded.
Air India’s A350 flight will include other new soft products and enhancements which concretize the portfolio of soft enhancements that the airline introduced earlier this year. This includes new chinaware, new tableware, and glassware, new bedding, and enhanced amenity kits for Business and Premium Economy guests. Apart from the regular business and economy cabin classes, Air India’s A350 aircraft also include a premium economy cabin class.
Much of Air India’s current (existing) fleet is older aircraft that had been inducted into the airline when it was being managed by the government. Now much of these aircraft are in a state of disrepair owing to conditions imposed by the financial strain that the airline was under prior to the acquisition by the Tata group in January 2022.
Air India’s Airbus order encompasses 40 A350 aircraft and 210 aircraft from the A320neo family of narrow-body aircraft. The six A350s that Air India has received so far were meant for Aeroflot, the Russian flag carrier, but the West’s sanctions against Moscow as a result of its conflict with Ukraine allowed the Indian airline to acquire them.
To enhance its product and compete globally, Air India is not only receiving new aircraft but also heavily renovating its existing fleet. The purpose of this initiative is to update the interiors of vintage aircraft.
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