One of the first things which the Tata group did after taking over Air India was to invest in getting the grounded aircraft back in the air. This was followed by signing up for additional narrowbody aircraft (new) and five widebody aircraft (older planes). Delta Air Lines had retired its newly refurbished B777-200LRs by the end of 2020 as the world went into a lockdown. Most were headed for conversion as a freighter, until Air India got hold of five via a lessor. Air India, thus, launched Premium Economy since these five came in three class configurations comprising Business, Premium Economy and Economy – unlike Air India’s own three class configured B77Ls which are configured with First, Business and Economy.
The first one landed in Delhi on, this was followed by VT-AEF (Nov 27, 2022 ), VT-AEG (Dec 29,2022), VT-AEH (March 08), VT-AEE (May 01) and VT-AEI (Aug 15 ). They have been named Vihaan, Prabhat ,Alok, Avijit and Uday respectively. The aircraft age varies from 14.6 to 15.9 years, not too older than the three B77Ls which Air India had in its fleet. While the aircraft may be older, if social media is to go by – the reviews from passengers have been very positive. The ex-Delta airframes are configured with 28 Business class, 48 premium economy and 212 economy class seats, while the Air India aircraft are configured with 8 First cabins, 35 Business class and 195 economy class seats.
New routes
There always are more than one option to deploy the planes. With a new class of service, was it logical to start the deployment from Delhi – where the airline has the strongest presence or Delhi has a good demand built up for the First class and the airline would not want to withdraw First Class from Delhi? In the end, a large part of the answer was driven by operations. As multiple reports have indicated, the ex-Delta aircraft do not come with enough Oxygen support to divert to nearest alternate in case of depressurisation over the Hindukush.
The airline opened new routes to San Francisco from Mumbai and Bengaluru and increased frequency to New York from Mumbai. As all the five aircraft progressively entered the operational fleet, the airline now has a method to madness in a multi fleet subtype environment and thus the right time to look at how the airline is deploying its five former Delta B777s.
The deployment
The current deployment sees two aircraft operate the routes to San Francisco from Mumbai and Bengaluru where the Mumbai – San Francisco – Mumbai service is four times a week, while the Bengaluru – San Francisco – Bengaluru service is thrice a week. In absence of any other widebody flights from Bengaluru and engineering facilities being in Mumbai, the aircraft rotates as Mumbai – San Francisco – Bengaluru – San Francisco – Mumbai
Two aircraft operate the Mumbai – New York – Mumbai route while one operates thrice a week on Delhi – San Francisco – Delhi. The airline has added a 11th frequency on this sector, which recently operated with the B77Ws.
A caveat for students of airline network planning. The same aircraft don’t operate the sector as if they are married to it. Aircraft get swapped at common points, like San Francisco or Mumbai to address maintenance needs and balancing the flying hours for air frames.
On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays – aircraft can be swapped at San Francisco. Apart from this, the airline operates select services on select days between Delhi and Mumbai where it deploys one of these aircraft to get it to its maintenance base at Mumbai, increase utilisation and capacity as well as swap it with another aircraft from Mumbai, where the four aircraft are largely rotation with just one being at Delhi.
Network Thoughts
The non-daily frequency on the Delhi – San Francisco – Delhi sector flies on a different routing as it is operated by the former Delta aircraft as compared to those by the original Air India aircraft. What happens next? If the Mumbai – San Francisco – Mumbai and Bengaluru – San francisco – Bengaluru routes have to see an increase in frequency, it could be done by dropping the Delhi – San Francisco – Delhi non daily flight or shifting the Mumbai – New York – Mumbai on the B77Ws.
The challenge, though is on the domestic legs since there have been instances of upgrades being bid for or seats being selected and aircraft being swapped at the last minute. The airline still lacks a seamless process to handle these changes.
The airline is going through a lot of changes which involves different sub-fleets being inducted with its own operational challenges. This will then have to be times such that the airline has even breather to send its older aircraft for refurbishment. Interesting times to track Air India.
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