Air India Receives Final Airbus A320neo With Old Livery; First A350-1000 Production Begins

The old livery of Air India is officially ‘old’. From now on, all the aircraft to be delivered to the airline will adorn the new livery with the latest Vista logo. On 18 May, Air India received the last Airbus A320neo with the old livery. The next one with the new livery is already under production. Furthermore, the production process of the first Airbus A350-1000 of Air India has also started.

No More Deliveries With Old Livery

Despite the privatization and takeover of the airline by TATA Group, the airline was receiving the deliveries of new A320neos in the older Sun-Konark livery. In 2022, it signed a leasing agreement for acquiring 21 Airbus A320neos and 4 A321neos. At this time, Air India had not revealed the new livery, meaning the agreement included deliveries with the old livery.

Out of this agreement, 4 A321neos and 19 A320neos have been delivered to the airline. The last one: VT-RTM was delivered on 18 May. This was the final Airbus A320neo to be delivered in older livery.

The remaining two A320neos will be delivered in new Air India colors. In August 2023, Air India had officially revealed its new logo and livery. After 3 months, in December, it received the first-ever aircraft in new livery. This aircraft was none other than the first Airbus A350 of Air India, registered as Air India.

Next Airbus A320neo for Air India has already been painted in the new livery at Toulouse Airport. Many planespotters have captured this beauty. To enhance the aircraft’s aesthetics, the airline has decided to opt for the raccoon mask, which Airbus offers for better looks and a slight improvement in fuel efficiency.

This aircraft, MSN 12156 will get VT-RTN as the Indian registration. It will be the first A320neo in India to have the raccoon mask around the cockpit windshield. Here, you can take a look at the aircraft.

Air India First Airbus A350-1000 Under Production

Air India has already received the delivery of the first set of six Airbus A350s. It was initially expected to receive deliveries of those aircraft, which were left abandoned by Aeroflot. All such A350s are now delivered.

With this, the production of the first Airbus A350-1000 for Air India has started. Digital Airliners is a platform, which keeps track of all the aircraft under production at the bases of Airbus including Toulouse and Hamburg. In its latest log entry published on 18 May, the forum mentions that there is a rear fuselage section of an Airbus A350-1000 assigned to Air India, lying in the Beluga Loading Area. Similar to every airframe, this one has an MSN: 719.

This means that MSN 719 will be the first-ever Airbus A350-1000 for Air India. With the production process starting from now, we can expect the conclusion of the first A350-1000 delivery before the end of this year, unless something changes. Air India has 20 Airbus A350-1000s on order, alongside an equal number of A350-900s.

Alongside the six Airbus A350s, Air India since privatization has taken deliveries of 11 more widebody aircraft. This includes five Boeing 777-200LRs and six Boeing 777-300ERs. The B772s were earlier operated by Delta Airlines, while the B77Ws are former Etihad jets.

Air India Express Opts For New Registration Series

In terms of receiving deliveries of aircraft, even Air India Express is not behind. In September 2023, it received the delivery of the first Boeing 737 MAX 8. With rapid fast deliveries, its fleet has now increased to 20 aircraft. For the initial deliveries, the airline opted for the VT-BX registration series.

The English language has 26 alphabets. With 20 aircraft delivered, this registration series is close to exhaustion. As a result, the airline has opted for a new registration series: VT-BW. Boeing 737 MAX 8 previously destined for Xiamen Airlines of China has been assigned with VT-BWB as Indian registration. This aircraft will be delivered to Air India Express.

On April 27, Air India Express received delivery of VT-BXZ. Deliveries of VT-BXT/U & V are pending. As of now, the airline is yet to receive delivery of 30 of those jets, which were abandoned by Chinese carriers. With these jets, AI Express will be consolidating its domestic network and expanding in the short to the medium-haul international market.

Conclusion

Air India has received the delivery of the final aircraft with the old Sun-Konark livery. Its first Airbus A320neo with the new livery is under production. The production process of the first Airbus A350-1000 has also started, with the rear fuselage arriving at Hamburg Airport. Air India Express has opted for a new series to register its new Boeing 737 MAX jets.

What do you think about these fleet changes? Discuss in the comment section.