India is slowly becoming the land of airplane restaurants – a trend which started in North India and is quickly catching up across the country. As the older airframes are auctioned and transported on trailers, sans the wings – another trend has emerged, that of getting stuck under the bridge. After the A320s, the A319s are getting converted as restaurants. If you are an aviation geek, looking to enjoy a ride on the Airbus A319 in India, the time is now before it’s too late.
Air India, now owned by Tata, looks all set to bid goodbye to the A319s in due course of time and the fleet has been dwindling for a while. The seats from the A319s were widely rumoured to have made it to the factory fresh A320neo which had come sans the seats, thanks to the supply chain constraints.
The A319s have been special and joined Indian Airlines in 2005. All aircraft subsequently moved to Air India after the merger of Indian Airlines with Air India and some of these also sported the “Indian” livery.
While Air India’s inflight magazine lists eight A319 in its fleet, flight tracking website FlightRadar24 shows only six being operational, and Planespotters.net further supports this by showing which two are parked.
A319s with Indian Airlines / Air India and current status
| Registration (VT-) | Fleet – In | Fleet – Out | Comments | Seats |
| SCA | Nov 2005 | July 2020 | 144 | |
| SCB | Dec 2005 | Jan 2024 | 144 | |
| SCC | Dec 2005 | Dec 2023 | 144 | |
| SCD | Apr 2006 | May 2014 | On lease, not fresh from factory | 144 |
| SCE | Apr 2006 | May 2014 | On lease, not fresh from factory | 144 |
| SCI | Nov 2007 | Nov 2019 | Scrapped | 8/114 |
| SCK | Dec 2007 | Dec 2019 | Scrapped | 8/114 |
| SCL | Oct 2008 | August 2020 | Stored at CCU | 8/114 |
| SCN | Nov 2008 | Nov 2020 | Stored at CCU | 8/114 |
| SCO | Mar 2009 | Mar 2021 | Sent to DRDO | 8/114 |
| SCT | Sep 2009 | Nov 2018 | Stored at DEL | 8/114 |
| SCU | Oct 2009 | Apr 2023 | Scrapped | 8/114 |
| SCW | Dec 2009 | March 2019 | Scrapped | 8/114 |
| SCX | Jan 2010 | Nov 2018 | Scrapped | 8/114 |
| SCF | Oct 2006 | 8/114 | ||
| SCG | Oct 2007 | Sept 2023 | Stored at CCU | 8/114 |
| SCH | Oct 2007 | 8/114 | ||
| SCJ | Nov 2007 | Apr 2024 | Stored in CCU | 8/114 |
| SCM | Nov 2008 | 8/114 | ||
| SCP | Apr 2009 | Nov 2023 | Stored in CCU | 8/114 |
| SCQ | May 2009 | 8/114 | ||
| SCR | Jul 2009 | 8/114 | ||
| SCS | Aug 2009 | Nov 2023 | Stored at CCU | 8/114 |
| SCV | Nov 2009 | 8/114 |
Source: Flightradar24, Planespotters.net
These A319s were part of the 2006 deal with Airbus where the airline had placed orders for 20 A321, 19 A319 and 4 A320s. The initial three all economy aircraft were leased until the factory was inducted. At one point of time, these were the backbone of Indian Airlines’ network in the North East from Kolkata and also served up some key trunk routes. The A319s categorised lower trip cost as compared to its larger siblings, but with higher CASK.
Last chance to fly
Data obtained from Cirium – an aviation analytics company, and randomly cross checked with Air India’s booking engine shows that the aircraft are now in low utilisation phase. While six airframes seem air worthy, the utilisation is decreasing each month.
For the month of December, it seems there are only four airframes worth of flying and the likelihood of one more airframe being moved to Kolkata for storage or scrap.
From Mumbai, one can fly to Kochi and back on Fridays and Sundays as AI691/AI682 and on all days except Friday and Sunday, one can fly to Bhuj as AI 601/602 on the A319s. All other options from largely Delhi based, with the flights and day of operations as below,
| Flight Number (AI-) | Sector | Day of Operations |
| 481 | DEL-AMD | ..3…. |
| 482 | AMD-DEL | ..3…. |
| 481 | DEL-AMD | 12.4567 |
| 482 | AMD-DEL | 12.4567 |
| 467 | DEL-VGA | 1234567 |
| 468 | VGA-DEL | 1234567 |
| 437 | DEL-IXC | 1234567 |
| 438 | IXC-DEL | 1234567 |
| 407 | DEL-PAT | 1234567 |
| 408 | PAT-DEL | 1234567 |
| 811 | DEL-LKO | 1234567 |
| 812 | LKO-DEL | 1234567 |
| 411 | DEL-LKO | 1…… |
| 412 | LKO-DEL | 1…… |
| 413 | DEL-IXC | 1…… |
| 414 | IXC-DEL | 1…… |
| 849 | DEL-PNQ | 1…… |
| 850 | PNQ-DEL | 1…… |
| 827 | DEL-SXR | .2.4.6. |
| 828 | SXR-DEL | .2.4.6. |
| 235 | DEL-RGN | ..3…. |
| 236 | RGN-DEL | ..3…. |
| 475 | DEL-JDH | ……7 |
| 476 | JDH-DEL | ……7 |
| 403 | DEL-HSR | ……7 |
| 404 | HSR-DEL | ……7 |
Source: Cirium
These are subject to change for operational reasons. If you are planning to fly the A319s, it would be wise to recheck at the time of booking and additionally closer to flying date. You should also check flight tracking websites to see if the schedule is being adhered to. As is the case with any flight and more so when aircraft are at end of life, substitutions are common for maintenance or operational reasons.
Tail Note
With a robust fleet renewal plan in place, it makes sense for Air India to get rid of the A319s and have a fleet which will eventually be all A320neo / A321neo on the narrowbody side, with a mix of A320, B737NG and MAX 8 for Air India Express.
As Air India phases out the A319s in due course of time, there are limited options available to fly the A319s. The neo version is also the lease selling one for Airbus amongst the three and soon A319s will become as rare as what the A318 is right now worldwide.
Have you flown the A319? Do you plan to fly it before they are all gone from Indian skies?
Image Credits: Ace photographer and avgeek Dipalay Dey , who also has special interests in the Airbus A319s having grown up seeing those criss North East – his home.
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