Air India, which recently revealed its re-branding amongst other turnaround efforts, will start international deployment of the first of the six former Etihad B777-300ER which it is inducting. Much in line with what I had written in early August, the airline will deploy the first aircraft to London Heathrow from Delhi starting first September.
There are few routes which are literally crying for capacity, I would rank flights to London Heathrow from Delhi and Mumbai at the top of these and I won’t be surprised if these aircraft get deployed to London.
The AI 111-112 combination will see the B77W being deployed thrice a week.
- AI111 DEL0635 – 1130LHR
- AI112 LHR1315 – 0210(+1)DEL
Currently Air India is locked in a battle on this route with British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, which largely cater connecting traffic to North America while Air India leads in the Origin – Destination traffic to London and surrounding areas. London has also been considered one of the premium routes for Air India and improving the product offering will help Air India push up yields with increasing profits or reducing losses based on flight, seasonality and a combination thereof. The airline is yet to open reservations of First Class for this flight.
What is the competition offering?
British Airways deploys the B772, B788/B789 on its double daily flights to Delhi while Virgin Atlantic is deploying B789 on both its flights. Air India operates 17 weekly flights to London Heathrow from Delhi while Vistara operates a daily flight (three class configuration). British Airways’ B772’s deployed to Delhi are configured with 48 Business class, 40 premium economy and 184 Economy class seats, while its B789s are configured with four classes with 8 First class, 42 Business, 39 Premium Economy and 127 economy class seats – with focus clearly on premium traffic. Virgin Atlantic’s B789s are configured with 31 Business, 35 Premium Economy and 198 Economy class seats.
Air India’s current B788 Dreamliner operations consist of 18 Business class and 238 economy class seats, a total of 256 seats. From a premium perspective, the number probably made sense for older Air India but with a focus on premium offering and pushing up yields, the number of Business class seats is simply less.
The B77Ws (ex-Etihad) are configured with 8 First Class, 40 Business Class seats and 280 economy class seats. This would mean an increase in capacity by 33% at that time of the day with doubling of Business class capacity and introduction of First class. This would effectively help push up yields by attracting passengers from competition.
Read: What to expect in the six former Etihad 777s joining Air India?
As the offering moves to “premium”, one of the factors would be lounge. At Delhi, the airline has its own signature lounge but at London Heathrow it relies on Star Alliance partners for lounge access.
Network Thoughts
The much expected move will do wonders and I am sure the plan is to operate with this equipment on a daily basis. Air India has been slow with commercial induction of its planes, with two out of four A321neo yet not in service and one out of five B777-200LR (Ex-Delta) yet to enter commercial service.
This could be the testing ground for the future. The six A359s which join later this year are also configured with three classes but those three are Business, Premium Economy and Economy. If The First class offering attracts enough passengers, the B77Ws could continue on this route or else the A350s could take over eventually.
First, the offering has to become daily and progressively expand to all flights to London Heathrow which would require five planes. There are six ex-Etihad aircraft which are joining Air India’s fleet.
This will progressively free up one Dreamliner at a time and it will be interesting to watch where it gets deployed.
In the longer run, the dreamliner will be the route opener, followed by an upgrade to either the B777 or the A350 – depending on the demand mix and configuration for which Air India eventually settles.
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Right but what about rest of the seats mainly in Economy seats in Air India ?
Delhi London Air India all flights economy seats have much problems. Recliner isn’t working, entertainment is big big issue. Many screens don’t work. Even window shade buttons of many seats not functional. Major revenue is generated from these but the lease facilities are been taken care off is the major worry.
What would be your comment?
Long time for that to get fixed. AI is clearly prioritising premium traffic