Air India gets first Boeing 777-200LR to fly on international route; makes changes in domestic routes

As per the induction plan, Air India has received its first Boeing 777-200 LR. Vihaan, which means dawn of a new era, is the name given to the aircraft with registration VT-AEF.

Vihaan.AI is Air India's transformational roadmap over five years with clear milestones.

It will be focussing on dramatically growing both its network and fleet, developing a completely revamped customer proposition, improving reliability and on-time performance.

Boeing 777-200LR

The Boeing aircraft leased from Delta airlines has premium economy class along with standard classes. Sources said that the modified aircraft reached Delhi on Sunday evening.

Sources said that five Boeing 777-200LRs are likely to join the fleet between December and March. These aircraft will be deployed on international routes from Indian cities.

Global expansion

Last week, Air India announced the strengthening and expansion of its global footprint with the launch of new flights connecting Mumbai with New York, Paris and Frankfurt, and the resumption of non-stop flights connecting Delhi with Copenhagen, Milan and Vienna.

This expansion came as the airline continues to make progress in augmenting its fleet with newly-leased aircraft, and the return of existing aircraft to active service.

Air India in September unveiled its comprehensive transformation plan, to establish itself as a world-class global airline with an Indian heart -- the absolute best in class in customer service, in technology, in product, in reliability and in hospitality. The plan is titled Vihaan.AI with identified objectives for Air India over the next 5 years.

Changes in domestic flight routes

The airline has also made several changes in the domestic flight operations. Under Tatas, several unprofitable domestic routes have been removed with Air India now focusing on metro-to-metro connectivity.

According to a report by Business Standard, the routes that have been dropped include Delhi-Ranchi, Delhi-Raipur, Aizawl-Imphal, Delhi-Nagpur, Bhopal-Pune, Kolkata-Dimapur, Kolkata-Dibrugarh and Kolkata-Jaipur. It has increased frequencies on routes like Delhi-mumbai, Delhi-Bengaluru, Mumbai-Bengaluru, Mumbai-Chennai and Hyderabad-Mumbai.

Air India seems to be taking advantage of the fact that IndiGo and Go First have reduced the flights on these routes due to grounded planes. Air India also said that it is easier to fill premium cabins in these routes.

Transfer to Tata group

After 69 years as a government-owned enterprise, Air India and Air India Express were re-acquired by the Tata group in January 2022.

Post the acquisition, time-bound transformation milestones have been laid out and a series of steps have been initiated towards achieving the same in order to ensure Air India once again emerges as a world class airline.