Air India has spent the past few years remaking itself — brand-new and retrofitted aircraft, all-new cabins, a fresh look. Those cabins are no longer a promise; they are flying the routes that matter, connecting Delhi and Mumbai to London, Frankfurt and Toronto. Here is what has changed, and what it means when you fly to India and beyond.
For years, flying Air India meant a gamble between a tired cabin and a good story about what was coming. Since the Tata Group took the airline back in 2022, a great deal has been promised — a new look, new aircraft, refreshed cabins, a serious attempt to rebuild a national carrier. The difference now is a simple one: the new cabins are no longer a promise. They are flying.
An airline being rebuilt
Air India today is a different company from the one many of us remember. A new livery — deep red with a gold window frame and a patterned tail drawn from Indian craft — marks the change on the outside. Inside, the fleet is being renewed on two fronts at once: brand-new Airbus A350s and Boeing 787-9s arriving from the factory, and the airline's older widebodies — the Boeing 777s and 787-8s — stripped back and fitted with completely new interiors. The result is a cabin standard that finally matches the ambition.
The cabins have genuinely changed
This is where it counts. In Business Class, the new seats lie flat, with more privacy and the kind of finish you expect on a long haul to Europe or North America. Premium Economy — a cabin Air India simply did not offer on many routes before — is now appearing across the network, the sweet spot for a long flight without a business fare. And Economy has been rethought too: new seats, and bright 4K screens with the films and the moving map that make a night flight pass. It is in the small things as well — a reading light cut in a traditional jaali pattern, the kind of detail that tells you someone cared.
Where the new fleet is flying
Air India is rolling the new and retrofitted aircraft onto its most important long-haul routes first, building outward through the year. The upgraded cabins now connect Delhi and Mumbai to London Heathrow and Frankfurt, and Delhi to Toronto, with more destinations joining as further aircraft are retrofitted and delivered. On some routes the change is bigger still — Premium Economy arriving where there was none, and First Class returning on the Delhi–Melbourne service. If you are flying one of these city pairs, it is worth checking which aircraft is scheduled, because the difference on board is real.
What it means when you fly to India — and beyond
For anyone travelling to India, or connecting through Delhi or Mumbai onward to Europe, North America or Australia, this is genuinely good news. The onboard experience that once put travellers off has changed, and on the right aircraft it is now a comfortable, modern long-haul. When you book your India journey — or a longer trip routed through it — with Five A, we will tell you honestly which Air India flights are on the new or upgraded cabins and which are still waiting their turn, so the aircraft is never a surprise.
Tell us where in India you are headed, or where in the world you are going through it, and we will build the journey around the flights worth taking.
