Air India is currently undergoing an impressive transformation, to a scale we’ve never seen before at any airline. Air India has already revealed its new long haul first and business experience, which will be available on the carrier’s new wide body aircraft, and will also be retrofitted on existing aircraft.
The airline has now revealed its new short and medium haul passenger experience, which will be available on the carrier’s A320 fleet. I’m happy to see this announcement, and in particular, how fast aircraft will start to feature these interiors.
In this post:
Air India’s new three-class Airbus A320 interiors
Air India has just revealed a new three-class configuration for its Airbus A320 fleet, including a new business class, premium economy, and economy, all developed in partnership with Collins Aerospace.
On the Airbus A320 (including the A320neo), there will be a total of 164 seats, including eight business class seats, 24 premium economy seats, and 132 economy seats.
Air India’s new short haul business class has 40″ of pitch with 7″ of recline, and is in a 2-2 configuration. Business class features an adjustable armrest, footrest, and backrest, a tray table that includes a portable electronic device holder, and multiple charging ports. 
Air India’s new short haul premium economy has 32″ of pitch with 4″ of recline, and is in a 3-3 configuration. Premium economy features a four-way headrest, portable electronic device holder, a USB charging port, and a coat hook.
Air India’s premium economy is perhaps more in line with what you’d expect in an extra legroom economy section on a US airline. What makes it unique is that there’s a curtain behind the cabin, and that it features more meal options served in upgraded crockery and cutlery.
Air India’s new short haul economy has 28-29″ of pitch with 4″ of recline, and is in a 3-3 configuration. Economy features a portable electronic device holder, a USB charging port, and a coat hook.
Here’s how Air India CEO Campbell Wilson describes this new product:
“The introduction of a three-class cabin to Air India’s narrowbody fleet and commencement of interior refits are important steps in the journey of enhancing the flying experience. The upgrade of the narrowbody fleet, which operates on domestic and short-haul international network, complements the upgraded widebody experience now available on our A350 fleet and new B777s, and on all other widebodies as they are refitted over the next two years. This comprehensive upgradation of Air India’s physical product is an important component of transforming into a world-class airline.”
Air India will aggressively roll out this product
Air India plans to roll out its new narrow body product at an impressive pace. The product will enter passenger service on select routes as of July 1, 2024. Air India has retrofitted two Airbus A320neo aircraft, with the registration codes VT-RTW and VT-RTZ, and those will be the first planes to boast the new cabins.
Over the next year, Air India plans to retrofit its entire full service narrow body fleet with this next product, so hopefully it’s available on all aircraft by mid-2025. Meanwhile all newly delivered Air India narrow body jets will be delivered with these interiors installed.
Retrofitting the entire narrow body fleet in around a year is pretty impressive, so I’m happy to see the carrier’s plans.
My take on Air India’s new narrow body experience
I’m happy to see that Air India finally has plans to introduce a new narrow body experience. The carrier’s A320-family interiors have been pretty rough for some time, and I’ve been surprised that the airline has continued to take delivery of new jets with really outdated interiors.
Admittedly Air India’s narrow body passenger experience isn’t going to be anything amazing by global standards. There are no seat back televisions, or anything, but that’s fair enough, when you consider the competitive landscape in the country.
Here’s what I find most interesting:
- Air India is reducing the size of its business class cabin by one-third, from 12 seats to eight seats, so that’s not great in terms of business class fares, upgrades, and awards
- The concept of a premium economy cabin on domestic flights is cool, though with just 32″ of pitch and a standard 3-3 configuration, definitely manage your expectations
- The 28-29″ of pitch in economy is rough, but also seems to be the standard in India
- As these jets are reconfigured, their capacity will increase from 162 seats to 164 seats, with business class being reduced by four seats, the 24 premium economy seats being new, and economy being reduced by 18 seats
Bottom line
Air India is introducing new interiors for its narrow body aircraft, which will help the airline modernize on domestic and short haul international flights. You can expect a new business class, the introduction of premium economy, and also new seats in economy. I don’t think there’s anything here that’s super shocking, though the introduction of a premium economy cabin is interesting.
What do you make of Air India’s new narrow body interiors?
Is this because of the Vistara integration after the union of the 2 airlines? What's the latest on the integration?
Can they change the passengers Breath? The Curry breath is Deadly!
Nice interior and color scheme, it looks very sophisticated on the renders, it looks snazzy, this is even better looking than the up coming A350 cabins, this shade of red looks good. They should've gone with 12 seats on business and call the Premium Economy just Economy comfort, extra space or Economy plus like many airlines do.
This is identical to Vistara's exisiting configuration,
Will be much easier to integrate the fleets when they merge soon,
With Around 50 aircrafts of Vistara in this config will be a sizeable fleet with Premium economy by the year end itself
AI A20Ns will be quite similar to the UK (Vistara) A20Ns currently flying. Both have three classes, are in C8W24Y132 configuration and (seem to) have the same seat pitches.
Not a big surprise given that they'll be merged into one airline, AI.
Looks tasteful compared to what it is replacing.
Amen. I flew the all-Y 320ceo several years ago, and I believe I recall seeing Airfones in the seatbacks (not to mention that the cabin generally felt like it was falling apart).
28”-29” pitch in economy is outright criminal in my opinion