New Cabin: Air India Begins Refurbishment of Airbus A320 Fleet

It is a known fact that the widebody fleet refurbishment plans of Air India have been delayed. However, the airline has not backed off from its commitment. Instead, Air India has started the refurbishment process of its Airbus A320 fleet.

Air India has a lot of Airbus A320neos with an all-economy class configuration. The airline is in the process of refurbishing these aircraft with three cabin layouts.

Air India: Narrowbody Fleet Refurbishment

Air India has sent its first Airbus A320 to the AI Engineering Services Limited (AIESL) facility in Delhi. Here, the current cabin interior will be removed and the aircraft will be refurbished with Business, Premium Economy, and Economy Class cabins. The new business class seats will have better cushioning with respect to current seats. In this way, Air India will officially launch the premium economy cabin on its narrowbody fleet.

By mid-2025, Air India is aiming to retrofit 40 A320s with new cabins. With this move, the airline is looking to standardize its narrowbody fleet with Vistara. The majority of Vistara narrowbody aircraft are configured with three classes. The inclusion of Business and Premium Economy cabins will ensure that the airline can provide more options to corporate and business travelers.

After the refurbishment, the new interiors will require approval from authorities. Once approved, the aircraft will enter into commercial service. Since privatization, this will be the first time that the airline will be launching its very own onboard product. These aircraft will be deployed on Tier-1 domestic and busy short/medium-haul international routes.

At present, three A320neos of Air India are under maintenance at Delhi Airport. These are VT-RTM, VT-RTW, and VT-RTZ. All three of them are new and are yet to enter into service with Air India. There is a high chance that all three of them are undergoing refurbishment. On 4 June, an interesting movement was recorded by Radarbox. VT-RTZ was doing some movements at Delhi Airport under the callsign of Vistara.

What can we Expect?

A few months ago, Air India signed a deal with RECARO in which the seat manufacturer assured the supply of more than 22,000 seats to the airline. In this deal, the airline had included seats for widebody aircraft like Boeing 777 and Boeing 787. Hence, there is less information in the public domain regarding the seat type to be fitted on Air India’s narrowbody fleet.

An airline executive told the Hindu Business Line that the seats on Air India aircraft will differ from those installed on Vistara A320s. He assured that the new product would be way better than the current one. It will be more comfortable with enhanced legroom.

However, Air India A320s are expected to inherit the layout of Vistara jets, with 8 business, 24 premium economy, and 126 Economy class seats. Seats will be different, but LOPA remains the same.

Since the airline will be making modifications to the aircraft’s interior layout, it will require certification from DGCA and other concerned authorities before entering the aircraft into commercial service. As said earlier, Air India has delayed the refurbishment work of its widebody fleet. An official told HBL that the airline is in constant discussions with the seat manufacturer. It will provide an update about the revised refurbishment timeline.

Ready For Refurbishing 100 Aircraft

In the recently concluded CAPA India Summit, the CEO of Air India, Campbell Wilson said that the airline is at a stage where it is ready to refurbish 100 aircraft, including narrowbody and widebody jets.

With more than 25,000 seats on order, it has committed around $400 million for the refurbishment plans. For seats, it has selected RECARO and for the In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) system, it has chosen the Thales Avant-Up.

RECARO will supply more than 22,000 seats to Air India within the next half-decade. For Economy class, the airline has opted for CL3710 and CL3810 seats. For the Premium Economy class, it has selected PL3530 seats. The Thales Avant Up will be installed on 40 existing widebody aircraft. The 6 Airbus A350 will continue to have the Panasonic eX3 IFE display.

To facilitate the interior design, the airline has brought several design agencies like JPA Design and Trendworks to assist with the cabin elements.

Conclusion: Air India Refurbishment Plans

Air India has sent its first Airbus A320 for refurbishment. The aircraft currently configured with all-economy configuration will be refurbished to include Business, Premium Economy, and Economy class cabins. By mid-2025, the airline is aiming to retrofit around 40 narrowbody jets. This will be the first time that the airline will launch its own product.

What do you think about the refurbishment plans of Air India? Discuss in the comment section.