Earlier this year, Air India placed major orders with both Airbus and Boeing. The airline now received the first aircraft from that order – an Airbus A350-900 originally built for Aeroflot. Continue reading to learn more. Air India Has...
Earlier this year, Air India placed major orders with both Airbus and Boeing. The airline now received the first aircraft from that order – an Airbus A350-900 originally built for Aeroflot.
Continue reading to learn more.
Air India’s first A350 wears the airline’s new livery. (Credit: Air India)
Air India Has 40 Airbus A350s on Order
In 2022, India’s Tata Group retook ownership of Air India. Under its new ownership, Air India placed major orders for almost a total of 500 aircraft in early 2023. That included an order for 250 Airbus aircraft including 140 A320neos, 70 A312neos, 34 A350-1000s, and six A350-900s.
Later on, the airline converted 14 of its A350-1000 orders to A350-900s. With that, Air India expects to ultimately take delivery of 20 A350-900s and 20 A350-1000s.
The six A350-900s that Air India originally ordered are airframes that were originally meant to be delivered to Aeroflot. The Russian flag carrier took delivery of seven of the 20 A350-900s it ordered before deliveries were halted due to sanctions related to the current situation in Ukraine. These airframes will be delivered to Air India in Aeroflot’s cabin configuration.
Air India’s first six A350-900s will all be airframes originally ordered by Aeroflot.
Air India Received Its First A350-900 in December 2023
On December 23, 2023, Air India took delivery of its first Airbus A350-900. The aircraft, now registered VT-JRA, was originally meant to be delivered to Aeroflot as VP-BYG. Wearing the brand new Air India livery, the A350 was ferried from Airbus’ factory in Toulouse to Delhi Airport, where it arrived at 1:46PM local time, as flight AI350.
It is the first A350 to be operated by an Indian airline. It is also the first Airbus widebody in Air India’s fleet since 2016 when it retired its A310s. Before that, the airline also operated A300s and A330s.
Air India’s first A350’s delivery flight.
Air India expects to receive five more A350-900s – i.e. the remaining ones originally built for Aeroflot – by the end of March 2024. The remaining A350-900s and the A350-1000s will be delivered after that.
Initially, the A350-900 will be deployed on domestic flights around India for crew familiarization purposes. After that, the aircraft will be used on longer international flights. It is not clear yet what exact routes the aircraft will operate.
The A350 will first fly domestically. (Credit: Air India)
Air India’s First Five A350-900s Will Feature Aeroflot Cabins
Rather than featuring Air India’s own interiors, the first A350-900 is equipped with the same cabins as the aircraft would have been had it been delivered to Aeroflot. That said, there are some Air India finishing touches (like business class seat headrest color and economy class upholstering color) that the airline managed to squeeze in.
The first Air India A350-900 – like the five that will follow – is equipped with a total of 316 Collins Aerospace seats including:
28 staggered business class seats with doors in a 1-2-1 layout 24 premium economy class seats in a 2-4-2 layout 264 economy class seats in a 3-3-3 layout
The A350-900 brings a significant improvement in hard product compared to Air India’s existing widebody fleet of Boeing 777s and 787s. That’s especially the case in business class – the 777s are equipped with business class seats in a 2-3-2 layout and the 787s feature lie-flat seats in a 2-2-2 layout.
That said, Air India is also leasing some 777s originally operated by Delta Air Lines, Etihad Airways, and Singapore Airlines that feature interiors comparable to the new A350 and significantly better than Air India’s own widebodies.
The A350s will feature significantly more modern cabins than Air India’s existing 787-8s.
Summary
Air India took delivery of its first A350-900 on December 23, 2023, just months after ordering the aircraft from Airbus. That was possible due to the aircraft being originally built for Aeroflot which was unable to receive it due to sanctions related to the ongoing situation in Ukraine.
Five more A350-900s – all airframes originally meant for Aeroflot – are expected to join Air India’s fleet by March 2024. Fourteen more A350-900s and 20 A350-1000s will follow after that. The first six A350s will feature the same Collins Aerospace seats that Aeroflot originally ordered.
While it is not clear which routes the A350 will be deployed on, it will initially fly domestically for crew familiarization before being deployed on international routes.
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