We know that Air India is currently undergoing a major transformation, after being privatized. This includes ordering hundreds of new planes, and trying to greatly improve the passenger experience. As you might expect, this is no small project, both given the state of Air India’s legacy fleet, plus the general industry constraints (delays with aircraft…
Continue reading: New Air India Boeing 787 Business Class: Great, But Don’t Expect Consistency!
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
That looks like Ethiad’s business class. lol. Are you sure you didn’t fly them?
Oh wait. I thought you flew on it. Either way, it looks like Etihad’s interior.
Does Air India still plan to offer at least a row of first class on some of these new or retrofitted planes?
When will all these PPT projects complete? 0.5x Allegris timeline or even 1x Allegris length?
If AI is going to have its very, very good A350 soft product on this variety of hard product seats, it's a winner... eventually, maybe, because it's AI and who knows.
According to Campbell Wilson, Safran (presumably) walked away from the contract and "left us in the lurch". I have no idea why. So they probably scrambled for other suppliers and the had to split suppliers due to seat delivery delays. I don't think the vast majority of people give a damn about whether they're flying on a Recaro R7 or Safran Unity. They'll be happy not to fly the old AI interiors. Having the exact same seat in across the fleet probably doesn't matter when the rest of your fleet is falling apart.
The seat was remodeled and renamed to the Indian market due to the Indians traditional ritual at the airplanes- Safran Urinity
Realistically two new reverse herringbone seat designs aren't going to be different enough from each other enough to meaningfully shift passenger opinion and experience
Consistency really is the key; the swaps from a350 or 787 to older 777 are a major concern.
Ben, did you, uh, check-in on the pilots beforehand. Like, 'hey, fellas, namaste, hope you're doing well. Everyone wants to live, right? Okie dokey. Cheers!'
They could have chosen Stelia Opera like Air France. Stelia is an Airbus subsidiary so should have been easier to order and certify. Recaro R7 is basically the bottom of the new gen mini suite products. They also cheaped out by choosing Elevation instead of Elements from Collins.
@1990 by that logic, we'll have to check with Boeing CEO, every time we fly on a Boeing plane.
Sorry Nathaniel, perhaps I was not clear enough the first time.
Let's try this again.
INDIA???
Ole gets it. I agree; I think there's much more to AI171, and not sure if we'll ever get the truth.
DEL-HND could be one of the first routes starting February 14, as it’s advertised that 787-9 replaces 787-8 which has been flying this route.
It’s unlikely to be a former Vistara plane since such flight starts with 4 digit flight number starting with 2 (ie AI 2xxxx), which in this case is not.
It's just probably that it's easier to get their hands on the Elevation than the Elements and that they already have an existing relation with Recaro on installing their economy and premium economy seats.
Ben, once the new Air India lounges in Delhi reopen, it may be time to review AI again.
India's changed a lot with the upper mid range travel options that your readers may enjoy:
- Centurion lounges in DEL and BOM with sit down service and food made to order
- Indian hospitality (You must stay at the Taj Mumbai but don't book a room in the tower, stay in the old historic portion)
- Decent (but not luxury) points hotels available with western programs (Alila hotels in Goa, St Regis Mumbai, Ritz Carlton Bangalore)