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Air India announces expansion plans for summer
However, due to production constraints at the selected seat supplier, the retrofit of the legacy Boeing 777 fleet, initially slated to begin in 2025, will now commence in early 2026.
Air India has announced expansion plans for the peak summer schedule starting March 30 to boost connectivity on several key international routes, the airline said in a statement on Thursday.
As part of its plans, the airline is ramping up services to the United Kingdom, including Delhi-Heathrow where the airline will add three weekly flights, bringing the total to 24 weekly flights from the current 21. The expanded services will have a combination of Air India’s Airbus A350-900 and the upgraded Boeing 787-9 aircraft, it stated.
Its frequency on the Amritsar-Birmingham route will also increase from three to four weekly flights and on the Amritsar-London Gatwick route, from three to four weekly flights. Similarly, flights on the Ahmedabad-Gatwick route will grow from three to five weekly services.
Further, the Delhi-Zurich flights will see an increase from four to five weekly flights and Delhi-Vienna from three to four weekly flights.
Air India is also strengthening its presence in East Asia, with the Delhi-Seoul (Incheon) flights increasing from four to five weekly flights over growing demand.
The Delhi-Hong Kong route will also see an upgrade, switching from an Airbus A321 to the more spacious Boeing 787 Dreamliner, operating seven days a week, the airline stated.
In Africa, the Tata-owned Air India will increase flights between Delhi and Nairobi from three to four weekly flights.
“The airline’s narrowbody aircraft modernisation is on track to complete by mid-2025. Additionally, the first Boeing 787 aircraft will undergo a retrofit starting in April 2025, featuring new seats and an upgraded entertainment system, with the revamped aircraft scheduled to re-enter service by October 2025. Subsequently, Air India will induct two to three refurbished Boeing 787s into its fleet each month until all 27 legacy aircraft are upgraded,” an airline spokesperson said.
It clarified that due to production constraints at the selected seat supplier, the retrofit of the legacy Boeing 777 fleet, initially slated to begin in 2025, will now commence in early 2026.
“During 2025, Air India will refresh several other elements of the Boeing 777 interiors in preparation for the full retrofit,” the spokesperson added.
The airline, however, will temporarily suspend a few services. “As a result of the retrofit program and the temporary reduction in fleet availability, Air India will suspend its non-stop Mumbai-Melbourne service from 30 March to 13 September 2025. The airline will also suspend the non-stop Kochi-London Gatwick route from 30 March 2025 until further notice,” the spokesperson added.
