Air India completes retrofit of 27 legacy A320 neo aircraft

New Delhi: Air India on Friday said it has completed the retrofit of its 27 legacy A320 neo planes and now also has premium economy class seats.

The retrofit programme for these aircraft, which commenced in September 2024, is part of the loss-making Tata Group airline's broader USD 400 million initiative to modernise its entire legacy fleet.

PSU Watch is now on Whatsapp Channels. Click here to join

The retrofitted planes joined the fleet at different points in time over the last little over one year.

Currently, the airline has an operational fleet of around 190 planes, including legacy Boeing 787s and 777s as well as new A350s. Apart from the retrofitted planes, there are other legacy narrow-body aircraft -- 13 A320 ceos, 4 A321 ceos and 6 A319s. There are also 14 new A320s taken on lease.

"With 104 A320 family aircraft featuring new or upgraded interiors, Air India now operates 3,024 weekly flights across 82 domestic and short-haul international routes," the airline said in a release.

These retrofitted planes have 4,428 new seats -- 3,564 economy class, 648 premium economy and 216 business class.

The airline, which was taken over by the Tata Group in January 2022, operates around 4,500 flights weekly and has taken delivery of 6 A350s since the privatisation.

On October 29, Air India CEO and MD Campbell Wilson said the airline will complete the refurbishment of all the legacy Boeing 787-8 planes by mid-2027 and the retrofit of Boeing 777 by early 2028.

The airline expects to get the first of its new Boeing 787 plane or Dreamliner, between December and January.

Air India, which is in the middle of an ambitious five-year transformation plan, has been facing some headwinds, including technical issues with some of the legacy planes.

In one of the worst aircraft accidents in India, a total of 260 people, including 241 passengers, died after Air India's Boeing 787-8 aircraft operating flight AI171 to London Gatwick crashed soon after take off from Ahmedabad on June 12.

(PSU Watch– India's Business News centre that places the spotlight on PSUs, Bureaucracy, Defence and Public Policy is now on Google News. Click here to follow. Also, join PSU Watch Channel in your Telegram. You may also follow us on Twitter here and stay updated.)