I flew on Air India’s new flagship, the A350-900 inaugural flight. This is the first plane that wears the new Air India livery. It is the first of 470 planes Air India has on order which is worth $70 billion. Can Air India regain its former glory?

My Air India A350 flight started from Mumbai to Chennai. The Business Class cabin has 28 fully enclosed private suites. Followed by Premium Economy cabin which has 24 seats and Economy with 264 seats. The crew on this flight wore new Air India uniforms with bright colors.

The humanities on these inaugural flights shine! The flight was in celebration mode with many aviation enthusiasts onboard, all wishing Air India well. The new A350 is leaps and bounds ahead, a complete change from the old Air India.

Upon landing in Chennai, I remained onboard for the next sector to Bengaluru. The captain has shared that the initial domestic flights were for training purposes before the A350 being inducted for long-haul international flights. The next sector was just 40 minutes but Air India served a meal onboard, it was hot vegetarian biryani. 

Air India expects to receive 5 more A350-900s by April 2024. The airline has ordered a total of 20 A350-1000s and 20 A350-900s. Until the end of Feb, the A350 is deployed on domestic flights flying to the cities of Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi.

Cover Photo by Utkarsh Thakkar