Air India today announced it will deploy aircraft featuring new, retrofitted or upgraded cabin interiors on additional, key international routes as part of its Northern Summer Schedule 2026, thus adding capacity and boosting connectivity on select long-haul routes. The changes are indicative of the premium Air India sees in its routes and much in line with the predictions made on this website in the past, especially related to equipment changes to London Heathrow. A look at the deployment plan will give a glimpse of important markets in terms of connection as well as yields.
The changes to Air India’s schedule and product deployment on select international routes are as follow.
Between February and March 2026:
- Effective 14 February, Air India’s Delhi-Tokyo (Haneda) operates with B787-9 aircraft, featuring a three-class cabin configuration, thus introducing Premium Economy on the route. This deployment adds 2408 seats between Delhi and Tokyo (Haneda) every month.
- Starting 01 March, Delhi-Toronto frequency increases from 7x weekly to 10x weekly.
- Starting 29 March, Delhi-Seoul (Incheon) frequency increases from 5x weekly to 6x weekly, and the newly launched Delhi-Shanghai flights increase from 4x weekly to 5x weekly, thus adding 2048 seats on each of the routes every month.
Better product and introduction of Premium Economy to Tokyo, helping with more connecting passengers and premium positioning. Also sees gradual increase to Seoul and Shanghai, with eventual aim to have daily flights.
From 01 July 2026:
- Mumbai-London (Heathrow) flights will operate with a combination of Air India’s incoming new B787-9 and retrofitted legacy B787-8 aircraft, both featuring all-new cabin interiors. These flights will replace the currently deployed B777-300ER on the route, which already feature upgraded cabin interiors.
- Delhi-Melbourne daily flights will operate with Air India’s B777-300ER featuring upgraded cabin interiors, thus introducing First Class on the route. The aircraft features 8 suites in First Class, 40 fully flat beds in Business Class and 280 seats in Economy Class, adding nearly 4,000 seats every month between Delhi and Melbourne.
The deployment of best product to London is a no-brainer. Air India has the highest O-D share between India and London with Virgin Atlatnic and British Airways focusing on connections to North America. Prima facie this is a drop in capacity but an upgrade in experience, which Air India will need to maintain an edge. Eventually, this route would have the 777X, an aircraft with highest capacity as and when they are inducted and until then if capacity permits, the A350-1000. The lower capacity does not impact Air India as it is a capacity leader between India and the UK. The Delhi – Melbourne upgrade could be a pre-curser for judging the market for First Class, as this change is an upgrade of capacity as well as product compared to the legacy Dreamliners.
From 01 August 2026:
- Bengaluru-London (Heathrow) flights will operate with the airline’s retrofitted B787-8 aircraft, featuring new cabin interiors, thus introducing Premium Economy on the route. With this, all Air India flights to and from London (Heathrow) will be serviced by aircraft featuring new cabin interiors.
- 7x weekly flights on the Delhi-Toronto route will operate with Air India’s incoming, new B787-9 aircraft, featuring all-new cabin interiors in a three-class configuration and introducing Premium Economy on the route. The remainder 3x weekly flights will continue to operate with Air India’s legacy B777-300ER. With this, more than 50% of Air India’s North America flights will be operated with new or upgraded cabin interiors.
- Air India’s flights to Birmingham from Amritsar and Delhi, and to London (Gatwick) from Ahmedabad and Amritsar will be operated with Air India’s legacy B777-300ER, replacing the currently deployed legacy B787-8 and introducing First Class on these routes.
The legacy 777s will be relegated to monopoly routes and while they bring in additional capacity, they will also see relatively lower flying as compared to now. The Pakistan airspace closure and subsequent re-routing and tech stops would have meant that the airlines are clocking more cycles than planned and hitting maintenance earlier than planned. These changes will help balance the hours and cycles for the legacy 777s. If there is further delay in the refurbishment plan for the legacy B777s, it may well be wise for Air India to either convert them to cargo or scrap them and replace them with the Dreamliner and A350 combo which they have on order.
Network Thoughts
Air India started retrofitting its legacy 787-8 last year. Much like all other programs, this too was delayed with the first two aircraft expected back in service in December 2025 by its own admission. They will now come back over the next few weeks and start commercial operations in April. This year, Air India expects three more 787-9 Dreamliners this year, along with two A350-1000s, one of which is ready.
By end of 2026, a sizable chunk of its long haul fleet will be modern in terms of interiors with the 787-8 picking up pace after the intial two aircraft and deliveries of five new planes.
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