[AMcWhirter]

The editorial team have published lots of detail about the new Air India branding.

What was not known at the time was that Air India will be upgrading one of its flights between Delhi and London Heathrow from September 1.

The flights in question are AI 111 and AI 112.

These will be operated by one of five ex-Etihad B777-300ERs which Air India has acquired.

There will be eight first, 40 business and 282 economy class seats.

Note that business class features Etihad’s lie-flat seats configured 1-2-1.

I must stress that the full B777-300ER rebrand, which we reported recently, won’t happen until 2024.

Air India teases new 777-300ER first, business, premium economy and economy class cabins

[cwoodward]

I see Air India as the vehicle of the biggest sea-change in the industry since the ‘sandpit’ airlines decided that money was no object and decided to attempt to colonise the airline industry.
The difference here being that there are steady hands on the Air India rudder.

Will they attempt to buy the basket case that is Pakistan Airlines International ? -as if they dont or cant for political reasons I doubt anyone else will.

[Rferguson2]

I am actually keen to give the ‘new’ Air India a go for my flights to/from DEL in MAR but at the moment their booking system is still showing the flights as being operated by a 787.

[AMcWhirter]

Rferguson2 – I had thought the upgrade to the 777-300ER would be daily for these flights.

But having rechecked the carrier’s website for September it appears, at time of writing, that the 777-300ER is being deployed x3 a week.

So, for example, AI 112 LHR-DEL gets the 777-300ER on September 1, 3 and 6 plus September 8, 10 and 13 etc.

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Rferguson2

[AMcWhirter]

Here are the first pics I have seen of the interior of Air India’s ex-Etihad B777-300ER.

The aircraft is being trialled between Mumbai and Delhi before service entry to London Heathrow.

Travel blogger Ajay Awtaney was on board one of the flights and he photographed the interior.

It appears unchanged since the aircraft was in service with Etihad.

I flew the Air India 777 that will operate Delhi – London Heathrow effective September 1. Here is how it went…

[cwoodward]

It’s all looking very dated now and the ‘business class headphones’ are a throwback to the nineteen eighties.
Rather better and more roomy than the Air India current product on the route but from the report the cabin crew look to be struggling to provide even basic actual business class service.

There is a long way to go and much training to be done which from some reports many older long serving crew are resisting and I suspect will be replaced asap

[Rferguson2]

I am looking at AI India to LHR in MAR when I am travelling and it seems they are switching the ‘new’ 777 from DEL-LHR to BOM-LHR with AI131 showing the seatmap for the new cabin.

I am tempted to book F with Avianca miles but am wary I will end up on a 787 with 2x2x2 seating or even worse – the legacy AI 777’s.

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Ekond222

[cwoodward]

There no “new” 777s the youngest is 13.4y.o. the average age of the 21 in the active fleet is 14.8 years -don’t expect too much they have not been well treated in the past.

Personally I would not go near AI longhaul for another 2-3 years by which time the new owners should have all sorted -inducing the cabin crew which are at the moment by all accounts very poor with many unwilling to change or properly embrace the new Tata “service” culture.

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Rferguson2, AndrewinHK

[Rferguson2]

I am just curious I guess 🙂 I enjoy trying airlines I have not flown before. And to be honest some of the airlines with more dubious reputations have exceeded my expectations in the past (Aeroflot, China Southern, Sri Lankan). My expectations would definitely be in check 😉

Add to that the redemption rates are excellent from Avianca LifeMiles to Air India.

[cwoodward]

Fully understood rF2 My thoughts I suppose are rather coloured by travelling 85% of the time for business and working imm off of the aircraft. I will look forward to your report

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Rferguson2

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