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Air India to fly A350s to London from September

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Air India is currently in the middle of a huge transformation under the new ownership of Tata Group, with a brand new long haul fleet due to be in place by the end of 2026. The catchphrase is “transforming a national institution into a national inspiration”.

The airline has 470 aircraft on order from Airbus and Boeing, worth a stunning $70 billion at list price, with the first due to arrive this November. Completely new lounges are under construction in Delhi and at New York JFK and the loyalty programme is being revamped.

Air India A350

The first of these aircraft to be delivered are six A350-900s, originally destined for Aeroflot. Whilst they are the airline’s new flagship, they have been plying domestic routes so that crew could get familiar with them.

However, from this summer, Air India will be putting these on ‘proper’ long haul sectors, with London and Dubai the first cities to receive them.

Starting on the 1st September, 14 of 17 weekly Heathrow to Delhi flights – two a day – will be operated by the A350-900s, whilst 90% of all Air India flights from Heathrow will offer new or upgraded interiors.

They will operate on the following flights:

  • AI162 departing London Heathrow at 09:45 and arriving in Delhi at 22:50
  • AI161 departing Delhi at 02.45 and arriving in London at 07:30

and

  • AI112 departing London Heathrow at 13:15 and arriving in Delhi at 02:05 the next day
  • AI111 departing Delhi at 06:45 and arriving in London at 11:30 the same day

Whilst these are brand new aircraft, Air India has inherited and retained Aeroflot’s cabins whilst lightly refurbishing them to the airline’s own colours. In business class, this means you get the impressive looking staggered Collins Horizon seat. Later deliveries will feature a different seat altogether.

The A350 features 28 business class seats, 24 premium economy seats in a 2-4-2 layout and 264 economy seats in a standard 3-3-3 layout.

Meanwhile, Air India has also upgraded its soft product in the form of new bedding, new amenity kits and new glassware, china and cutlery.

The bottom line is that Air India is rapidly transitioning into a genuinely modern global airline, a process that will continue for the next few years.

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Category

General

Comments (22)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Hugo says:
    28 Jun28 June 04:38

    Value really has gone down for ihg points now – the 0.4p is possible but only just. Used to be easy.

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
      28 Jun28 June 07:17

      It’s been that way since dynamic rather than fixed points pricing came in.

      • Hugo says:
        28 Jun28 June 07:29

        this may be the case but there has also been an additional recent devaluation in the last couple of months.

        • Ken says:
          28 Jun28 June 07:37

          I’d agree, not a huge devaluation but certainly feels like 5-10%

          Plus I find IHG is ‘more dynamic’ than Marriott.

          • Rob says:
            28 Jun28 June 09:01

            Very much so. It goes like this:

            100% dynamic – Accor (2 Eurocents per point fixed), Melia, Jumeirah, Radisson
            90% dynamic – IHG (can adjust but basically cash rate divided by 0.4p)
            75% dynamic – Bonvoy (points based on cash price in general BUT each hotel still has a secret cap so you get value on peak dates, albeit that the caps are very high)
            65% dynamic – Hilton (as Bonvoy, but the caps are lower and kick in more quickly so easier to get outsize value – just booked my brother Park Lane for 80k next month vs £650 cash)
            25% dynamic – Hyatt (still has reward charts, albeit now peak and off-peak, but irrespective of cash rate you know what the points price will be)

  • sherlockholmes says:
    28 Jun28 June 05:36

    There is a mistake in AI161. It leaves at 0245 not 1425 🙂

    AI161 departing Delhi at *14:25* and arriving in London at 07:30 the following morning

  • Ken says:
    28 Jun28 June 07:00

    I’m sure there is value out there but I’ve struggled to beat 0.4 with IHG on the last 12 months.
    I find it much easier to get outsized value with Marriott- even if it’s only 0.8 rather than 0.5p

    • TGLoyalty says:
      28 Jun28 June 08:54

      Paid 12-16k for a few stays at a hotel that was selling for £80-120 a night (non flex) this year so the value is there sometimes but as with anything the algo kicks in and the value disappears soon enough it’s more like 18-22 now

      • Talay says:
        28 Jun28 June 21:06

        Moxy is a good bet. Southampton is often 11/12k (can be more) but rates are routinely over £100.

        However, you also have the Premier Inn and Leonardo (ex Jurys) offering multiple options that come in under the Moxy prices and thus make more sense, especially if you have any need to eat in the hotel, as Moxy have next to nothing food wise.

    • John says:
      29 Jun29 June 06:35

      I did Belgrade (all 3 hotels) for 28k on average instead of €175 average

  • Michael says:
    28 Jun28 June 09:32

    Delighted to hear of easyJet’s new Derry routes! 🙂
    The city is a fantastic destination for a city break, not to mention a gateway to the North West of Ireland.
    For locals and tourists it removes the inconvenience of needing to travel to/from Belfast (or Dublin) to access these routes.
    The airport itself is small with everything you might need including a lounge. High recommended!

    • ADS says:
      29 Jun29 June 13:37

      every little helps!

      for Avgeeks wanting to fly into CFN … you could do an open jaw routing with a flight out of LDY

  • LittleNick says:
    28 Jun28 June 09:53

    Do you know if there’ll be any good way of using Amex MR/Avios/Virgin Points on Air India in the future? Is via Marriott a current option without getting poor value per point?

    • Rob says:
      28 Jun28 June 10:04

      I was with the Air India team in London last week and was encouraging them to talk to Amex. If they are a Marriott partner (haven’t checked) its 0.833 miles per £1 via the Bonvoy Amex if you convert in chunks of 60k, same as almost all other airline partners. No idea how this stacks up with the redemption chart.

  • David S says:
    28 Jun28 June 09:54

    Even though I never fly Air India, it’s great to see airlines with the desire to do something big and bold. Take note BA !!

  • AV says:
    28 Jun28 June 22:28

    Air India was recently bought out buy Tata, hence the investment and revamp. Tata got a deal where they didnt have to inherit the hefty debt!
    For BA, the equation is very different, although there IT could be better no doubt!

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-60150531

  • ba says:
    30 Jun30 June 17:07

    IHG points bonus extended to 3 July.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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