HYDERABAD: Billing 2026 as a year of transformation for Air India, CEO and MD Campbell Wilson said the airline will begin operating at least 20 world-class widebody aircraft this year to Europe, East Asia and Australia.
Briefing the media on Tuesday evening after the conclusion of a special trip from Delhi to Begumpet by the first Dreamliner aircraft with custom-made interiors, Wilson said the Boeing 787-9 will launch commercial operations on the Mumbai–Frankfurt route from February 1. It will be operated five days a week, an executive informed later.
“Mumbai–Frankfurt is a very popular route for business as well as for visiting friends and relatives. It is also a route that contributes a lot of connecting passengers beyond Frankfurt to North America and Europe and behind Delhi to Southeast Asia and Australasia,” he said.
Most of the aircraft have been deployed from Delhi in the last couple of years, and hence the decision was taken to operate it from Mumbai, the CEO added.
Following its deployment, the aircraft will progressively be deployed across the rest of the European network, Australia and East Asia, he said. “By the end of the year, about half of the 787 fleet will be operated with this new interior aircraft. The remainder will be retrofitted in 2027,” he added.
The CEO further said, “We placed this order in 2022. It takes that long for an aircraft to be designed, manufactured and delivered. Now they will start coming at a relatively quicker pace. In 2026, 2027 and 2028 we will see a huge transformation for the Air India long-haul widebody fleet.”
In a statement, he said, “The arrival of this new Boeing 787-9, the first production widebody from the 470 aircraft-strong order signed three years ago, is a significant moment in Air India’s five-year Vihaan.AI transformation programme. Though nearly 100 new and leased aircraft have already joined the Air India group’s fleet since privatisation, this is the first to be designed by and for Air India.”