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 deliveries, new seats, etc.).
As I recently covered, nearly four years after being privatized, Air India has finally started the process of reconfiguring its long haul jets with new interiors. However, it’s not necessarily the product you might have expected.
In this post:
Air India selects Adient Ascent seat for Boeing 787-8s
Several weeks ago, Air India’s first Boeing 787-8 began to be retrofitted, and the first interior picture of the new plane has now been revealed, and can be seen below.
This plane has gone from having business class seats in a 2-2-2 configuration, to having business class suites in a 1-2-1 configuration, meaning there’s finally direct aisle access from every seat.
Specifically, it would appear that Air India has selected the Adient Ascent seat for its 787-8 fleet. This product is built as part of a joint venture between Adient and Boeing, so it’s specifically designed for the 787. That’s why you’ll also find this seat on the newest Boeing 787-9s of Qatar Airways, Hawaiian Airlines, and American Airlines, and soon it’ll also be debuting on United Airlines.
It would appear that Air India has opted for 20 business class seats, spread across five rows, taking up the entire space between the first and second set of doors. We should learn more details soon, but these are typical reverse herringbone seats with privacy doors and greatly updated tech. 787-8s are also getting Wi-Fi, plus greatly updated entertainment systems.
Note that only 787-8s are expected to get these cabins, while Air India’s ex-Vistara 787-9s will maintain the “bones” of their cabins, at least for the foreseeable future (which is fair enough, because the seats are still pretty competitive). The first of these refreshed 787-8s is expected to enter service in February 2026.
This is not Air India’s new “flagship” business class
Interestingly, the new cabins being installed on Air India’s Boeing 787-8s aren’t actually the new business class seats that Air India has been promoting in recent years, which are expected to be retrofitted on Boeing 777s and installed on newly delivered Airbus A350s.
The Star Alliance carrier has selected the Safran Unity product as its primary new business class seat, which is the same product you’ll find in Japan Airlines’ A350 business class, and I’d rank that as being among the best business class seats in the world.
So, why isn’t Air India installing Safran Unity seats on its Boeing 787s? As I understand it, the initial plan was for the 787s to get these seats, but due to supply chain issues and manufacturing constraints, the airline ended up having to go with another manufacturer, in order to not delay things too much further.
So we’ll see how this plays out, but I believe the plan is for the 787-8s to get the Adient Ascent seats, while all the newly delivered planes will get the Safran Unity seats (I’m not 100% sure about the newly delivered 787-9s — if I missed an official announcement there, please let me know!).
Bottom line
Air India’s new Boeing 787-8 business class has finally been revealed, and the airline has opted for the Adient Ascent seat, which is becoming increasingly common on the 787. Passengers can look forward to fully flat beds with privacy doors and direct aisle access, a huge improvement over Air India’s previous 787-8 business class. However, this isn’t the Safran Unity seat that Air India otherwise plans to install on its wide body aircraft.
What do you make of Air India’s new Dreamliner business class?
Apparently, Air India held a media briefing two days ago. The only website that had any info about it was "Live from a lounge."
While the author reported that the Adient Ascent will be used in the 787-8, he also claimed that this seat will also be installed in the new 787-9s that Air India will receive in the coming months.
In addition to this, that author has it "...on good authority..." that...
Apparently, Air India held a media briefing two days ago. The only website that had any info about it was "Live from a lounge."
While the author reported that the Adient Ascent will be used in the 787-8, he also claimed that this seat will also be installed in the new 787-9s that Air India will receive in the coming months.
In addition to this, that author has it "...on good authority..." that Air India will install the Recaro R7 for its new A350s, and the Collins Aerospace Elevation on its retrofitted 777s.
Idk about the legitimacy of this guy's claims. Just thought I'd share this here.
Apparently Air India held a media briefing two days ago. I say apparently because the only website that talked about it was Live from a Lounge.
I root for most things Indian, but I will never set foot on AI for the time being.
They've always had questionable safety issues and filthy planes. They had zero problems with First Class cabins looking disgusting and falling apart. After the 788 crash, the hush hush made it worse for me.
What a shame, there was so much potential.
None of my Indian friends will touch Air India...all business goes to...
I root for most things Indian, but I will never set foot on AI for the time being.
They've always had questionable safety issues and filthy planes. They had zero problems with First Class cabins looking disgusting and falling apart. After the 788 crash, the hush hush made it worse for me.
What a shame, there was so much potential.
None of my Indian friends will touch Air India...all business goes to SQ, EK, QR and EY.
When I gleefully mentioned a couple of years ago about all the new stuff coming to AI...it was met with an eye roll and a cold no, never.
On the surface, great. But even if Air India had the greatest business class seat in the world, it wouldn't matter. Why? Because they still can't get the basic job of cabin cleaning done right. This airline shouldn't dream big until it can do the basics properly on a consistent basis.
Air India? Never, ever again in my entire lifetime on this planet. Not even confirmed business class for the rest of my life & my entire family. That airline is an international version worse than Spirit. Takes at least a week to get the cabin stench off of your skin. Never again.
Neverrrrrrrrrrrrr
And Ben why are you showing an AA 787 chair on the opening picture?
How many times you travelled
From where to where
Please specify
Please try your journey once by PK
Pakistan Intnl airlines
You gotta wonder how much discount Boeing/Adient is giving out for these seats (UA and AA def chose them for low price not the customer experience). Most of the new 787 biz seats are Ascent, with the exception of ANA (The Room Fx), Etihad (Collins Element) and Air NZ (Safran Visa). Btw, I’ve realized that ANA The Room Fx is likely based on old Etihad 787 seat - both Safran and the bone looks extremely similar (forward backward).
Supply and demand. There’s no discount
Adient developed this seats for exactly this.
The shell of the seats are almost the same across all carriers (QR, AA, UA and HA) with a few changes in colour.
The things are make it different across different carriers is the seat cover, IFE, and some aesthetics around the seat.
This greatly reduces production cost and time allowing Adient to offer airlines a short time slot (delivery barely after 6-12 months of order) while other seats might require up to 2 years
Looks sick! Now AA’s gotta install these seats on their 788 fleet
Looks decent enough but to paraphrase Glinda - think of it as mediocrity dialysis, Air India, and you’ve got an awfully long way to go!
Ben, Adient Aerospace was rebranded as "Elevate Aircraft Seating" in April 30.
So it's "Elevate Ascent," not "Adient Ascent" anymore.
https://www.linkedin.com/company/elevate-seats
Also, don't expect their Safran Unity seat to be as good as JAL's which is pitched at 51". The Unity seat on JAL is so heavily customized that it's almost a different product. Unity on all the other airlines(Air India, Qantas, etc.) will be pitched around 46", which is 5" shorter than JAL's.