Surprise: Air India Plans Swanky New First Class Product For A350-1000

Here’s a pleasant surprise, which most of us didn’t see coming…

New Air India first class coming to A350-1000

Air India is currently trying to reinvent itself, and that includes introducing all-new cabins on its long haul aircraft. While Air India has already rolled out a new business class product, we know that the airline plans to introduce first class on newly delivered Airbus A350-1000s, and on existing retrofitted Boeing 777-300ERs.

Here’s where it gets interesting, though — initially Air India was supposed to use the Safran Unity platform on these planes, and the idea was that first class would be more of a “business class plus” concept, in terms of actual seat comfort (essentially taking advantage of extra space at the bulkhead).

However, due to “supply chain issues,” and what not, Air India ultimately had to go with a different supplier for its new seats. Air India’s A350-1000s are expected to get the Recaro R7 as their business class product, which are staggered suites with doors (LATAM was the launch customer for these seats). One open question has been what kind of a first class product Air India would introduce, without sticking to the Safran Unity platform.

Well, now we have our answer. As reported by @LiveFromALounge, it has been revealed that Air India will use a customized version of the first class suite designed by Airbus.

I wrote about this last year, including the First Class Master Suite concept. Suffice it to say that this is better than some marginal “business class plus” product, and it’s also way better than the carrier’s existing first class. One big open question remains what Air India is planning for its 777 first class, since I believe this product is specific to Airbus.

Wait, is Air India’s first class going to be amazing?

There’s a very high level of customization possible with this seating concept. One thing is for sure — regardless of exactly which product Air India chooses, this will be way better than what was previously expected.

It seems that no matter what, the idea is that this will be in a 1-1-1 layout, so think of it as possibly being somewhere along the lines of Japan Airlines’ A350 first class, Lufthansa’s A350 first class, etc.

This also includes the First Class Master Suite concept, whereby you have one suite that’s especially spacious. Personally I suspect Air India won’t go too over-the-top with customizations, so I wouldn’t necessarily expect the full bedroom concept.

This is now one of the first class products that I’m most curious to see evolve. Among first class products on the horizon, I’m most interested in this one, Singapore Airlines’ new first class (for select retrofitted A350s), and Cathay Pacific’s new first class (for select upcoming 777Xs).

Bottom line

Air India will soon be debuting its new flagship Airbus A350-1000, and we now have more of a sense of what the interiors will be like. While the initial plan was for first class to be a rather modest “business class plus” hard product, that plan fell through, since the airline no longer plans to use the Safran Unity platform.

The airline will now be partnering with Airbus on new first class suites, and these could turn out to be very impressive. While there’s a high level of customization possible here, one thing seems highly likely — the airline will introduce a first class hard product that’s actually very competitive, and likely at the top end of the industry. Now, whether Air India can actually introduce a soft product to match remains to be seen…

What do you make of Air India’s first class updates?