Air India announces wide-body cabin interior upgrades fleet-wide
As part of a five-year transformation program, Air India is refurbishing its wide-body fleet with new cabin interiors
Air India has unveiled plans to refurbish its entire legacy wide-body fleet, comprising 27 Boeing B787-8 and 13 B777 aircraft, in a project costing over US$400 million.
London-based product design companies, JPA Design and Trendworks, will work alongside the airline to completely overhaul of existing cabin interiors, which will see the introduction of a Premium Economy cabin on both fleets, as well as the retention of First Class on the 777s.
Additionally, the latest generation seats and best in-class inflight entertainment across will be installed across all classes.
Regulatory and engineering preparation has already begun, with the first aircraft expected to enter service in mid-2024.
Commenting on the widebody cabin refurbishment program, Campbell Wilson, MD & CEO, Air India said in a December 8 press release: "Under our Vihaan.AI transformation program, Air India has committed to attaining the highest standards of product and service befitting of a world-class airline. We know that, at present, the cabin product on our 40 legacy wide-body aircraft falls short of this standard. Although the project commenced some months ago, we are delighted to now publicly announce this significant investment in a complete interior refit, and we are confident that, when revealed, the new interiors will delight customers and show Air India in a new light. We are working closely with partners to accelerate the refit process as fast as possible and, in the meantime, leasing in at least 11 new wide-body aircraft with brand new interiors to improve our offering at the earliest opportunity.”
After 69 years as a Government-owned enterprise, Air India and Air India Express became part of the Tata group in January 2022. The present management at Air India is driving the five-year transformation roadmap under the aegis of Vihaan.AI to establish itself as a world-class global airline.
Vihaan.AI is Air India’s transformational roadmap over five years with clear milestones. It will be focussing on dramatically growing both its network and fleet, developing a completely revamped customer proposition, improving reliability and on-time performance.
