Air India Upgrades Both Colombo Services to Widebody Aircraft

As the airline continues to free its Boeing 787 capacity by replacing the aircraft with Boeing 777s on long-haul routes, it is upgrading some major short-haul international routes to widebody aircraft. From next month, the Colombo operations of Air India will be upgraded from Airbus A321neo to Boeing 787.

Air India Upgrades Colombo Services

Air India is one of the five carriers operating between India and Colombo. The airline connects Colombo to two Indian cities: Delhi and Chennai. Currently, it is operating daily flights from Delhi and 10 weekly flights from Chennai. These services are majorly operated using the Airbus A321neos, configured with 12 Business and 170 Economy Class seats.

However, this scenario will change from July 1. Air India will be upgrading the daily flights on both Colombo routes to Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The Airbus A320neo will be deployed three times a week between Chennai and Colombo.

Air India has a fleet of 27 B787 Dreamliners, equipped with 18 Business and 238 Economy Class seats. With this upgrade, it will increase the number of weekly seats on offer between India and Colombo by 34% (one direction). From 3,034 seats currently, it will increase to 4,070 seats from July 1.

Point to note that this upgrade will remain effective for only two months between June 1 and August 31. From September, the Airbus A320 family will again claim the Colombo operations of Air India.

Capacity Freed, But Where?

In the recent past, there have been instances where Air India has replaced the Boeing 787 with either the Boeing 777 or the Airbus A350. From May 15, it replaced the B787 on Mumbai to Heathrow route with Boeing 777.

Similarly, it upgraded the Delhi & Mumbai to Dubai route to Airbus A350. These routes were previously operated using the Boeing 787. Because of these replacements, the airline has freed a lot of B787 capacity.

From August 31, the Boeing 787 will come back on both Dubai routes. You can consider this as a hint that Air India is looking to deploy the Airbus A350 on long-haul international routes in September. Currently, the A350s are being operated domestically. On the international front, they are available on two routes: Delhi to Dubai and Mumbai to Dubai.

Conclusion

Air India is all set to upgrade the aircraft on both Colombo routes from Airbus A321neo to Boeing 787. From July 1 to August 31, this upgrade will remain effective. In September, the Airbus A320 will come back on these routes. The Boeing 787 capacity has been freed from Delhi and Mumbai to Dubai route, which the airline has recently upgraded to the Airbus A350.

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