Air India is in the middle of a massive transformation, as the airline has been privatized. Air India is planning major changes to the passenger experience, as the airline has ordered 470 new jets, and also plans to refresh the interiors of existing wide body aircraft.
In addition to that, we’ve seen Air India lease some used aircraft, both to add short term capacity, and also to improve the passenger experience. For example, Air India is leasing five former Delta Boeing 777s and six former Etihad Boeing 777s, which offer much better cabins than you’ll otherwise find on the airline. The airline will now also be leasing a few former Singapore Airlines Boeing 777s.
In this post:
Air India getting three Singapore Airlines Boeing 777s
The Economic Times reports that Air India will soon add three former Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ERs to its fleet. While the exact timeline remains to be seen, the plan is for these aircraft to be used for long haul routes.
Singapore Airlines retired some planes prematurely in 2021, due to the expectation of a slow recovery from the pandemic. So it’s almost certain that the aircraft that Air India picks up will be three of the planes that were retired then.
For context, Singapore Airlines’ Boeing 777-300ERs feature a total of 264 seats, including:
- Four first class seats, in a 1-2-1 configuration
- 48 business class seats, in a 1-2-1 configuration
- 28 premium economy seats, in a 2-4-2 configuration
- 184 economy class seats, in a 3-3-3 configuration
Suffice it to say that this will represent a massive product improvement across the board. For example, in business class you’re going from angled seats in a 2-3-2 layout…
…to fully flat seats in a 1-2-1 layout.
Which planes will these Boeing 777s replace?
Air India’s plan is to use three former Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ERs to replace three of the carrier’s Boeing 777-200LRs. At this point Air India has eight Boeing 777-200LRs, with five of those being former Delta aircraft with very nice interiors.
Air India wants to retire its own Boeing 777-200LRs, which are in a very outdated configuration. My guess is that Air India could get a great deal on the lease on these planes, and decided the economics made more sense this way vs. continuing to fly the 777-200LRs.
Sadly enough, these 777-200LRs being retired aren’t actually old, as they were only delivered in 2009, making them around 14 years old. Meanwhile the three 777-300ERs being added to the fleet were produced in 2006. However, as you might expect, Singapore Airlines has historically done a bit better of a job maintaining its aircraft than Air India.
Bottom line
Air India will soon add three former Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ERs to its fleet, which will replace the carrier’s three own Boeing 777-200LRs. That means Air India’s only remaining 777-200LRs will be the five former Delta frames that just joined the fleet.
This is part of Air India’s goal of adding short term capacity while improving the passenger experience.
What do you make of Air India leasing former Singapore Airlines Boeing 777s?
I booked AI LHR-DEL in F on 22 Oct. Right now equipment showing as 777-200LR (their old aircraft). Will the 777-200LR's be retired by then hence giving me either a SQ or EY aircraft?
I think this is absolutely stupid. Rather than retiring there own 777-200lrs and replacing them with 777-300ers that used to belong to Singapore they should just focus on investing in better maintenance for there aircraft. The 777s from Singapore are from 2006 while the 77Ls from Air india are from 2009, it does not make much of a difference. The only difference is the ones from Singapore are maintained much better than the ones from Air India.
Privatization of Air India has not resulted till date a better inflight experience for its patrons or providing value for money. For example, a lucrative Chennai to Singapore direct flight is highly overpriced as compared to Singapore Airlines and Indigo when tickets are booked atleast 2 weeks in advance. Inflight experience is not worth a comment.
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AIR INDIA AIRLINE IS BAD AIRLINE BECAUSE OF PEOPLE WHO WORK AT AIR INDIA , NO RESPONSIBILITY AND NO ACCOUNTABILITY OF EMPLOYEES . YOU WATCH MY BACK , I WILL WATCH YOUR BACK . ALL INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES ARE REQUESTED TO KINDLY START FLYING TO (ATQ) AMRITSAR , INDIA IF YOU WANT TO MAKE MONEY .
Amristsar? Yeah right. Could you tell me exactly how that route is lucrative apart from a couple of UK routes? If so then we would have seen the Big 3 of the M.E start operations ages ago. First of all Amritsar needs a new airport to even remotely consider expanding operations and improve passenger numbers. Which sadly to say is not going to happen anytime soon and second things I would like to point out...
Amristsar? Yeah right. Could you tell me exactly how that route is lucrative apart from a couple of UK routes? If so then we would have seen the Big 3 of the M.E start operations ages ago. First of all Amritsar needs a new airport to even remotely consider expanding operations and improve passenger numbers. Which sadly to say is not going to happen anytime soon and second things I would like to point out is that AI after the acquisition has improved tremendously in terms of performance and service, refurbishment of the cabins are due to happen by next year which will improve the passenger experience and cleanliness of the aircraft.
Apart from the UK, Amritsar probably won't get any other major international routes. Air India is still growing fast and their service is improving daily. They are hiring thousands of new cabin crew to replace the older employees from the government era. Air India is something to watch out for as it will be one of the top airlines in India soon.
I'm guessing the 5 Delta configured 777-200LRs left will be dedicated to their three SFO routes which need the range.
Heck yeah, I'm looking forward to Air India flying these premium planes on long-haul routes to North America. Not only do they have great premium cabins but they have the most modern 3-3-3 configured economy class in the world as well. Too bad there aren't also Singapore Girls on these planes.
Hope the interiors fare better than the filth one experiences on AF, AA or BA metal.
Imagine the state of those aircraft when they are eventually returned
Air India is growing fast. It will be interesting to see their final fleet in 10 years. Will they be super successful? Surely, with the backing of the TATA group. Will these additional aircraft reflect the AI new livery? Hope so.
Does Air India have a retrofit plan for 77w from Singapore Airlines?
Why would they retrofit cabins that are already so much better?
Consistency - They're all better between DL, SQ and EY (upcoming) but different.
Airlines no longer need consistency. AA use to have 5 different biz class seats. AF has at least 3 or 4 different biz seats. DL took over Latam's A350 and even they kept their seats as is for now. It's a different world now.
How ERs replace LR schedules with limited range especially BLR-SFO?
At MTOW, the ER can theoretically just cover BLR-SFO. Probably AI will not operate at full MTOW to have buffer. Also, AI is not replacing all its LRs, just the older AI ones. There were some rumors that these aircraft would be out of service for remodeling of the interior - I guess this plan has changed?
As long as the concerns mentioned by Sean M. are addressed, it seems like operating the 300ER than the 200LR makes more sense for AI, which currently operates DEL-SFO as its only flight which may need the 200LR. Probably the driving reason for leasing these aircraft rather than maintenance, as cited in the article.
They do BLR SFO as well, DCharlie.
They do BLR and BOM to SFO along with DEL.
Air India is also leasing 6 ex-Etihad 77W.
Well, unless these aircraft are equipped with auxiliary oxygen systems they won't be able to be routinely deployed on Delhi to North America routes which optimally require usage of the P500 airway in Kabul FIR that has a higher minimum sector altitude. This is the problem with the ex-Delta 777-200LRs and why they can only be deployed on ULH routes from Mumbai and Bengaluru rather than Delhi since they aren't equipped, while Air India's own original -200LRs are.
They are equipped with auxiliary oxygen systems, but I'm not sure about the EY 77Ws that are also coming