Air India Boeing 777 & 787 Cabin Refresh Project Delayed

In late 2021, Air India was privatized, as Tata Group, which was Air India’s initial owner when the company was first founded, took control of the airline again. Since then, executives at the company have been working hard to transform the airline. Suffice it to say that this is no small task, given the state of Air India’s fleet.

Fortunately a lot will be changing over time. In late 2022, Air India revealed that it would refresh the interiors of its Boeing 777 and 787 aircraft. On top of that, in early 2023, Air India placed a landmark order for hundreds of Airbus and Boeing jets, worth tens of billions of dollars.

The first existing wide body jets should’ve already been reconfigured by now, so what exactly happened? Well, it’s not great news, as we’re going to have to be a lot more patient, before these aircraft get Air India’s new first and business class products. Thanks to Live from a Lounge for flagging this, and CNBC TV18 for the initial report.

Air India investing over $400 million in wide body jet interiors

Tata Group intends to refresh the interiors of Air India’s existing long haul fleet. Here’s what we can expect:

• Air India will be refreshing the interiors of its entire legacy wide body fleet, including all Boeing 787s and Boeing 777s
• Air India will not only be refreshing all cabins (including all new seats, inflight entertainment, and Wi-Fi), but will also introduce a premium economy product across its long haul fleet
• Air India will be retaining the first class cabin on its 777s
• The planes will not only get new seats, but you can expect the configuration to change as well
• The company has hired London-based JPA Design and Trendworks to assist with this project

So, when can we expect these new interiors to debut on existing aircraft?

• Initially the plan was for the first reconfigured aircraft to enter service as of mid-2024, with all planes being reconfigured within 2.5 years, meaning late 2026 or 2027
• That’s no longer realistic, as Air India has been dealing with supply chain issues — the first reconfigured 787 is now expected to enter service in October 2025, while the first reconfigured 777 is expected to enter service at some point in 2026
• This project is now significantly over budget, and while it was initially supposed to cost $400 million, the expectation is now that it will cost tens of millions of dollars more than that
• The situation with 777s is so bad that Air India is planning some sort of a “refresh” of the jets in 2025, before they’re reconfigured in 2026
• There’s even talk of Air India changing seat suppliers for one aircraft type, though there are no details beyond that

Keep in mind that in addition to its existing long haul fleet, Air India is leasing some jets from other airlines, mostly on a fairly short term basis (meaning that these planes likely won’t be in Air India’s fleet in a decade). This is both intended to improve the passenger experience, and to add capacity.

For example, Air India is leasing six former Delta Air Lines Boeing 777-200LRs, three former Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ERs, and six former Etihad Airways Boeing 777-300ERs.

These planes are all significantly more premium than Air India’s existing long haul aircraft, and feature direct aisle access and fully flat seats in business class. Furthermore, the Delta and Singapore jets feature premium economy, while the Etihad and Singapore jets feature first class.

On top of that, Air India has started flying some Airbus A350-900s, which were initially intended for Aeroflot, so they have non-standard interiors, compared to Air India’s planned new layouts.

While I know Air India is trying, how disappointing that this project is delayed so significantly. The 777s are the planes most in need of upgrades, and they won’t even start to be reconfigured until 2026. Ugh.

My take on Air India’s cabin upgrades

I am happy to see Air India’s investment in its product, though of course it’s frustrating how slow this is all happening. Not only does the airline have a woefully outdated business class on Boeing 777s (in a 2-3-2 configuration with angled seats), but the cabins on many Air India planes are basically falling apart.

Here are some thoughts on the general cabin mixture we’re seeing on Air India wide body jets going forward:

• It’s interesting that Air India will maintain first class; some airlines have eliminated this while introducing a better business class product, but it seems that Air India is committed to maintaining this
• It’s fantastic that Air India will finally introduce fully flat business class seats with direct aisle access and doors; this will be a quantum leap compared to the current product
• I’m happy to see Air India also introducing premium economy throughout the long haul fleet, as India really seems like a market where there’s value in that, given how long so many flights to the country are
• The only downside to the new cabins is that Air India is going from a 3-3-3 layout in economy to a 3-4-3 layout; this was bound to happen, and matches the industry standard
• Once Air India does introduce this new product on planes, I hope the company invests in maintaining the seats, since that has historically been a major challenge for the airline

Bottom line

Air India plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars updating the cabins on its Boeing 787s and 777s. The airline will maintain first class on 777s, introduce a new business class on all long haul planes, add premium economy on all long haul planes, and also update the economy product.

This is all great news, though the terrible news is the timeline. While this project was supposed to start as of mid-2024, the first 787 with new cabins is now expected to enter service in October 2025, while the first 777 won’t be reconfigured until some point in 2026. That’s not good, and that’s the best case scenario as of now, so the situation could get even worse.

What do you make of Air India’s plans to update its cabins?