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‘Air India to upgrade its entire narrow-body fleet by mid-2025’
Narrow-body aircraft are the mainstay of domestic airline operations for most airlines, with wide-body ones typically flown on long-haul routes
Air India, which will soon have its sister airline Vistara merge into it, aims to upgrade all its narrow-body aircraft by mid-2025, chief executive Campbell Wilson said in an internal communication to staff on Friday.
Narrow-body aircraft are the mainstay of domestic airline operations for most airlines, with wide-body ones typically flown on long-haul routes.
“First, we commenced the refit of 67 narrowbody aircraft with new cabin configurations and seats. With three to four aircraft to be retrofitted each month, the entire narrowbody fleet should be upgraded by mid-2025,” his email read.
Work on upgrading Air India’s 40 legacy 787 and 777 aircraft --- which are wide-body jets – on long-haul routes to the UK and US, will follow as soon as the seats, which have been selected, are certified and delivered, the mail added.
Air India completed two years on September 15 since it embarked on a five-year Vihaan.AI transformation plan.
“In our just-published financial results, we also reported that consolidated losses reduced by over 50% year-on-year, and consolidated operating revenues rose by 25% to the highest-ever level,” the CEO said.
