GURUGRAM: Air India today marked two landmark developments in its continued effort to expand its international network and upgrade passenger experience. The first made-for-Air India B787-9, featuring custom-styled interiors, entered commercial operations today from Mumbai to Frankfurt, while simultaneously, Air India resumed its non-stop services between Delhi and Shanghai after nearly six years.

The Delhi-Shanghai flight (AI352) departed Indira Gandhi International Airport at 1207 hrs IST, reconnecting the Indian capital city with one of Asia’s premier business and cultural hubs. This 4x weekly service, operated with a Boeing 787-8 aircraft, restores Air India’s direct access to mainland China and supports growing demand from business travellers, families, and tourists.

Parallelly, Air India’s recently inducted B787-9 (registered VT-AWA) operating as AI2027 departed Mumbai at 1237 hrs IST operating to Frankfurt. This deployment marks the debut of Air India’s completely redesigned cabin interiors, unveiled on 27 January 2026, which set a new standard for passenger comfort and will be rolled out across the airline’s entire B787 fleet.

The new Boeing 787-9 features 30 Business Class suites in a spacious 1-2-1 layout, each offering direct aisle access, fully flat beds up to 79 inches long with a generous 42-inch pitch, wireless charging, large 17-inch 4K QLED HDR touchscreens, and ample storage. Premium Economy, as a dedicated, upscale cabin, offers 28 wide seats with generous legroom in a 2-3-2 layout, providing a 38-inch pitch, enhanced recline, adjustable calf and leg rests, 13.3-inch 4K QLED HDR touchscreens, and more. Economy Class comprises 238 ergonomic seats, equipped with 11.6-inch 4K QLED HDR touchscreens and improved overall comfort tailored for long-haul flights. All three cabins feature Thales AVANT Up in-flight entertainment with high-definition touchscreens, Type A and C charging ports, new mood lighting inspired by ancient Indian wellness traditions, Bluetooth headphone connectivity, and bespoke design touches.

Air India’s flights between Delhi-Shanghai and Mumbai-Frankfurt remain available for booking across all channels, including Air India’s website, mobile app, airport ticketing offices, contact centres, and through travel agents worldwide. 

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Maharaja Club members can now earn Maharaja Points when they shop with brands like Walmart, Victoria’s Secret, New Balance, GAP, Victorinox, and Alamowith more partners coming onboard soon to offer even more opportunities to earn and enjoy exclusive rewards.

From fashion and beauty to everyday essentials, these opportunities allow members to accumulate points on daily purchases, bringing them closer to their next rewarding travel experience with Air India when they redeem points for award flights or cabin upgrades.

Earning rates vary with each brand, offering members diverse ways to maximize their points across categories.

The offers are available on the Maharaja Club Partner Offers page on Air India’s website (https://bit.ly/MaharajaClubPartners), where members simply need to select their preferred brand to shop with and follow the next steps.

“We’re happy to partner with Loyyal as we continue to make Maharaja Club even more rewarding for our rapidly expanding member base across the globe,” said Shailesh Kumar Singh, Head of Loyalty, Air India. “This partnership makes it easier for our members to earn Maharaja Points on everyday essentials and shopping, without needing to fly frequently. By combining points earned from such purchases with those from flying, members can quickly unlock free flights or cabin upgrades and enjoy a transforming Air India experience.”

“We are thrilled to work with Air India to enhance the Maharaja Club experience through our expanded network of partners across the globe to enrich each member’s journey,” said Ashish Kumar Singh, CEO, Loyyal. “This initiative significantly boosts the earning potential for Maharaja Club’s members, allowing them to earn points through everyday purchases across the UK and USA. The Maharaja Club is designed to go the extra mile, ensuring members feel recognized, acknowledged, and privileged at every step. Together, we reaffirm our commitment to making every journey with Air India exceptional, enriching the daily lives of members with meaningful opportunities that ultimately enhance their travel experiences.”

Air India recently overhauled its frequent flyer programme, rebranding it to Maharaja Club and introducing a simplified new structure, more customer-friendly features, renamed tiers, and an updated identity for the programme.

With Air India being part of Star Alliance and the airline’s close cooperation with fellow Star Alliance member airlines, Maharaja Club members enjoy global recognition and benefits across the alliance’s extensive network worldwide.

Over the last 18 months, Air India has added over 50 partners for the Maharaja Club to offer greater ease, more rewards, and recognition for its members.

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INDIA: Air India Express has announced a limited-period ‘Flash Sale’ on both domestic and international flights. On domestic routes, Xpress Lite fares—the airline’s exclusive zero check-in baggage fare available only on its website—start from ₹1,250, and Xpress Value fares start from ₹1,375. The sale for domestic flights is valid for travel until 19th September 2025, and travellers can book their flights on these attractive fares through the airline’s award-winning website, airindiaexpress.com, mobile app, and other major booking channels.

For international routes, ‘Flash Sale’ fares start at ₹6,131 for Xpress Lite, ₹6,288 for Xpress Value, and ₹7,038 for Xpress Flex. These discounted international fares are valid for travel on 6th, 12th, and 20th August 2025. Bookings for both domestic and international sectors are open until 25th May 2025.

The airline offers Zero Convenience Fees on Xpress Lite bookings made through its award-winning website, airindiaexpress.com. Xpress Lite fares also offer added benefits, including the option to pre-book an additional 3 kg of cabin baggage at no cost and discounted check-in baggage rates – ₹1,000 for 15 kg on domestic flights and ₹1,300 for 20 kg on international flights. 

Additionally, the airline’s website offers fab deals for loyalty members, including 25% off Xpress Biz fares and upgrades. Xpress Biz is the airline’s business class equivalent with an industry-leading seat pitch of up to 58 inches. Biz seats are available on over 40 brand new Boeing 737-8 aircraft that Air India Express has recently inducted as part of its rapid expansion. Additionally, logged-in members enjoy 25% off on 10 kg Xcess Check-In Baggage and 25% off on 3 kg Xtra Carry-On Baggage. Loyalty members also get 25% off on ‘Gourmair’ hot meals, standard and prime seat selection, and Xpress Ahead priority services.  

Furthermore, the airline continues to offer special discounted fares and advantages on its website for students, senior citizens, doctors, nurses, members of the armed forces, and their dependents, ensuring a wide range of benefits for flyers.

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GURUGRAM: Air India, India’s leading global airline, has announced the inauguration of its newly created Air India Centre of Digital Innovation (CODi) in Kochi. The center will focus on developing customer-facing digital touchpoint technologies and cutting-edge data and Artificial Intelligence capabilities, which are playing a key role in shaping Air India as a modern, world-class airline.

Air India CODi was inaugurated by the Chairman of Tata Group, N Chandrasekaran, who is also the Chairman of Air India. Campbell Wilson, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, of Air India, Dr Satya Ramaswamy, Chief Digital & Technology Officer, and P. Balaji, Group Head of Governance, Regulatory & Compliance, and Corporate Affairs, Air India, were also present on the occasion.

The new office building exclusively housing Air India CODi is located in the Caspian Techparks facility in Infopark Phase II of Kochi. It features nine floors of office space with an innovative mix of workstations, meeting rooms, collaboration spaces, and discussion cabins. The facility also has a one-of-a-kind design collaboration space named ‘Bodhi Tree’ and the various floors of the building are named after erstwhile historic kingdoms from Kerala, such as Travancore, Venad, Kochi, Valluvanad, Eranad, Kozhikode, Arakkal, Kottayam and Chirakkal.

The team housed at Air India CODi has contributed to developing several digital technologies to ensure a smooth experience for Air India’s guests. These include:

• Air India’s award-winning mobile app is rated an exceptionally high 4.8 stars by its users on both the Apple and Android app stores, making it one of a handful of the top-rated airline mobile apps in the world.
• Air India’s award-winning website www.airindia.com is consistently ranked among the top airline websites of the world by leading website evaluation organizations such as Google Lighthouse.
• Air India’s award-winning generative AI chatbot AI.g, which is the global airline industry’s very first Gen AI chatbot. AI.g has answered more than 8 million customer queries so far and delivers impressive customer service performance, answering 97% of the queries autonomously without any human assistance.
• Air India’s notification system delivers more than 2 crore notifications per month, providing timely information and guidance to Air India’s guests.
• Air India’s award-winning new inflight entertainment system.
• Air India’s extensive data analytics and AI systems drive an AI-infused data-driven culture in its key departments.

Addressing the teams at Air India CODi, Mr. Chandrasekaran shared his vision of a data-driven, AI-infused future for Air India and the larger Tata Group. Noting the AI-driven advancements in today’s scenario, he urged the teams to develop digital interfaces and experiences that will enhance intelligence and empathy at Air India’s customer-facing digital touchpoints.

Mr. Chandrasekaran also called for digital tools that empower frontline Air Indians to excel in delighting guests. He exhorted the Air India CODi team to develop fully autonomous digital assistants that can proactively anticipate and fulfill every need of Air India’s guests.

Campbell Wilson, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, Air India said, “We are very excited to announce Air India CODi that will help further strengthen India’s innovation ecosystem. At Air India, we believe equipping our frontline employees with tech-enabled systems will help us provide a greater level of customer service to our guests. To this end, the team at Air India CODi will continue to develop cutting-edge AI solutions that will delight our guests.”

“The Air India Centre of Digital Innovation will be a space for collaboration and innovation for our talented workforce that will focus on developing customer-facing digital touchpoint technologies and cutting-edge data and AI capabilities. In the last two years, the team has made significant contributions to elevate customer delight through digital touchpoints as well as AI and data-driven decision-making capabilities across all our internal departments, as part of Air India’s Vihaan.AI transformation program. I am confident that Air India CODi will help further enhance the experience of our guests,” said Dr Satya Ramaswamy, Chief Digital & Technology Officer, Air India.

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VT-EXN was sent for retrofit last year. Its retrofit is part of the USD400 million retrofit program announced by the Tata group to upgrade the airline’s entire fleet of legacy narrowbody and widebody fleet.

VT-EXN and the remaining 26 A320neos will be operating on the domestic and short haul international, alongside the 14 new A320neos that have been welcomed into the fleet recently, offer modern amenities in three class cabin configuration – ensuring a uniform upgraded experience of passengers.

As part of the retrofit for all of the 27 A320neo that is scheduled to be completed by the third quarter of 2025, the airline will be installing over 3,500 brand-new Economy Class seats, more than 600 Premium Economy seats, and 200 Business Class seats.

It has taken 450 meters of premium leather, 15,000 meters of high-quality fabric, and 4,000 meters of plush carpeting.

All the refitted A320neo aircraft features eight luxurious Business seats, 24 extra legroom seats in Premium Economy, and 132 comfortable Economy seats. The retrofit includes soothing interior ambiance, spacious legroom, and wider seat pitch, along with modern features such as portable electronic device (PED) holders and USB ports. New carpets, curtains, upholstery, and cabin panels with fresh design motifs will reinforce the brand livery.

The retrofit schedule will also see more legacy aircraft, including 40 widebody B787 and B777 aircraft undergo makeover with the first B787 flying out for retrofit next month.

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GURUGRAM: Air India, India’s leading global airline, today announced it has rolled out Wi-Fi internet connectivity services on board domestic and international flights operated by Airbus A350, Boeing 787-9, and select Airbus A321neo aircraft.

This makes Air India the first to offer in-flight Wi-Fi internet connectivity on flights within India, enabling travelers – flying for leisure or business – to stay connected to the internet during their flights, and to enjoy browsing, accessing social media, catching up on work, or texting friends and family.

“Connectivity is now an integral part of modern travel. For some, it is about the convenience and comfort of real-time sharing, while for others, it is about greater productivity and efficiency. Whatever one’s purpose, we are confident that our guests will appreciate having the option of connecting to the web and enjoy the new Air India experience on board these aircraft,” said Rajesh Dogra, Chief Customer Experience Officer, Air India.

Accessible on Wi-Fi-enabled devices such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones with iOS or Android operating systems, the in-flight Wi-Fi will also allow guests to connect multiple devices simultaneously when above 10,000 feet*.

The deployment of Wi-Fi on domestic routes follows an ongoing pilot program on international services operated by the Airbus A350, select Airbus A321 neo, and Boeing B787-9 aircraft serving international destinations including New York, London, Paris, and Singapore.  As with the domestic offer, Wi-Fi is complimentary for an introductory period.  Air India will progressively roll out the service on other aircraft in its fleet over time.

How travelers can access Wi-Fi on board Air India flights:

• Enable Wi-Fi and go to Wi-Fi settings
• Select the ‘Air India Wi-Fi’ network
• Once redirected to the Air India portal on the default browser of the device, enter the required details such as PNR and last name
• Access complimentary internet service

* In-flight Wi-Fi connections depend on factors such as satellite connectivity, overall bandwidth usage, routes, and government restrictions.

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GURUGRAM: Air India, India’s leading global airline, has won global recognition for its generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven booking feature which once rolled out will considerably enhance the reservation experience of its customers. Air India’s innovative concept won the Red Dot award – acknowledged worldwide as one of the most prestigious recognitions for design concepts by the global design community in Singapore recently.

The ‘Design Concepts’ category acknowledges exceptional concepts or prototypes that are at the developmental stage, as well as those ready for market. Established in 2005, the award identifies new design concepts and innovations leading to the launch of great products in the future. The Air India concept is showcased now in the Red Dot Design Museum in Singapore.

New digital interaction paradigms can use text and visual interactions interchangeably to speed the user’s digital journey. Air India has applied this AI-generated insight to reimagine the classic ticket booking journey to largely enhance its reservation experience. This award-winning innovation will have several benefits when rolled out for customers for ticket-booking purposes:

• Minimize user effort in making bookings: Instead of navigating many pages of screens with selections to be made and data to be entered, users can just specify their intent to travel using a simple request and complete the reservation instantly.
• Reduced ticket-booking time: By speeding the guest’s journey through the booking flows, the time spent by them in making reservations is drastically reduced.
• Seamless booking journey from research to travel: The new interaction paradigm will eventually power Air India’s end-to-end booking experience from researching destinations to travel and post-travel support. The capability will be available for all of Air India’s digital channels to help guests switch sessions across channels seamlessly.

“Being ‘customer-obsessed’ and ‘design-rich’ are two key operative principles we have adopted in Air India’s digital transformation journey. Air India is making considerable effort to create aesthetic and user-friendly designs to help our guests effectively use our digital channels, like the mobile app, website, and the generative AI virtual agent AI.g. It is an honor to win the global Red Dot Award in the Design Concepts category for this innovation and we look forward to rolling it out in our digital channels soon,” said Dr Satya Ramaswamy, Chief Digital and Technology Officer, Air India.

Implementation of this new system across Air India’s mobile app, website, and chatbot will be driven by the insights gained from the airline’s consumer-facing generative AI technologies based virtual agent AI.g, which remains the first and most advanced generative AI virtual agent in the global airline industry.

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GURUGRAM: Air India Group has completed the operational integration and legal merger between Air India and Vistara, creating a full-service carrier of scale and marking a significant milestone in the post-privatization transformation journey. This follows the merger of the Group’s low-cost airlines Air India Express and AIX Connect (formerly Air Asia India) on
1 October 2024.

The consolidation of the four Tata-owned airlines into one Group operating one full-service and one low-cost airline is part of the ongoing, five-year transformation program, Vihaan.AI, which is focussed on establishing Air India Group as a world-class global aviation company with an Indian heart.

The unified Air India Group now operates over 8,300 weekly flights on 312 routes, connecting more than 100 domestic and international destinations with a fleet of 300 aircraft.

The new full-service entity Air India operates over 5,600 weekly flights and connects more than 90 domestic and international destinations with a fleet of 208 aircraft. The airline will now be flying over 120,000 passengers every day and offers extended worldwide connectivity to over 800 destinations through more than 75 codeshare and interline partners.

Preparation for the full-service merger commenced in earnest more than two years ago and has seen the induction of more than 6,000 staff from Vistara into a new organizational structure, harmonization of operating procedures across the four airlines, and alignment of over 140 IT systems. Amongst many other aspects, more than 4,000 vendor contracts have been consolidated, 270,000 customer bookings migrated and 4.5 million Club Vistara frequent flyer accounts inducted to Air India’s recently-redesigned frequent flyer program, Maharaja Club.

Given the unprecedented nature and complexity of the parallel mergers, which coincide with the Group’s significant expansion and transformation programs, close contact was maintained with India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) which supported and monitored the process throughout. The merger also received support from the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and other key stakeholders, including multiple international regulators.

Besides the consolidation of the four Tata-owned airlines, the Vihaan.AI transformation program has seen a commitment to more than 500 new aircraft, delivery of which is well underway, and the commencement of a USD 400 million interior retrofit program for legacy aircraft. A new 600,000-square-foot training facility with the capacity to train 2,000 employees per day has been opened, and ground has been broken on a 12-bay maintenance base that will be operational in early 2026. More than 9,000 new employees have been inducted and trained, and the airlines’ IT platform has been entirely modernized, amongst much else.

Campbell Wilson, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Air India, said, “The merger of Air India and Vistara completes the consolidation and restructuring phase of the Air India Group’s post-privatization transformation journey, and is thus a significant milestone. Over the past two years, teams across the four airlines have worked closely together and with other stakeholders to ensure that the transition of people, assets, operations, and, most importantly, customers, was as seamless as possible. Given the scale and scope of this project and its unprecedented nature, I would like to acknowledge the support received from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and others in making this merger possible. I would also like to acknowledge and thank our staff, who have undertaken this task whilst also driving comprehensive transformation across the business and supporting the induction of over 100 additional aircraft to the operating fleet. Finally, I would like to extend our sincere appreciation for the support and encouragement of our customers, for whom all the effort is ultimately intended, and to re-emphasize our commitment to creating a world-class global airline with an Indian heart.”

The unified full-service carrier will operate flights as ‘Air India’ with the airline code ‘AI’. Post-merger, Vistara aircraft will be operated by Air India, with the Vistara crew and service proposition, and can be identified by a four-digit flight number beginning with the digit “2” (e.g. UK 955 will become AI 2955).

In addition, the existing members of Vistara’s loyalty program Club Vistara have been transferred to Air India’s Flying Returns program, now renamed ‘Maharaja Club’.

Consequent to the merger of Vistara and Air India, Singapore Airlines, which held a 49% share in Vistara, became a 25.1% shareholder in the resultant Air India group.

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For instance, UK 955 will become AI 2955, helping customers identify them while booking on www.airindia.com after November 12.

The routes and schedule operated by Vistara aircraft will continue to be the same, alongside the Vistara in-flight experience that includes the product and service such as menu and cutlery on the Vistara aircraft. It will also be serviced by the same crew.

The airline, through a multi-media campaign, also pointed out that the unified Air India opens up limitless possibilities for passengers including unparalleled connection to over 90 domestic and international destinations and over 800 more destinations through codeshare and interline partners.

The existing members of Club Vistara will be seamlessly transferred to Air India’s Flying Returns program. With this merger, Flying Returns will also evolve into an all-new avatar ‘Maharaja Club’.

In parallel, Air India’s narrowbody fleet continues to be upgraded with new aircraft being delivered, legacy aircraft being refitted with entirely new interiors and Vistara’s catering now also extended to Air India.

Air India’s widebody fleet has also been augmented with the entry of six A350 aircraft that have started to fly between Delhi and London and will soon operate between Delhi and New York.

Air India has started its retrofit program with the first A320neo narrow-body aircraft going for retrofit in early September. 27 narrow-body legacy aircraft will be totally refurbished and retrofitted and this retrofit is likely to be completed by the middle of 2025.

The retrofitted A320neo aircraft will feature 8 luxurious seats in Business, 24 extra legroom seats in Premium Economy, and 132 comfortable seats in Economy, offering a wider choice to its guests.

Subtle cabin lighting, spacious legroom and wider pitch, and modern features, like portable electronic device (PED) holders and USB ports with type A and C options to charge mobile phones, laptops, and other gadgets, among others, will contribute significantly to offer guests an inflight experience catering to the needs of today’s discerning flyers. Carpets, curtains, upholstery, and cabin panels will be refreshed with new tones and design motifs reinforcing the brand livery.

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GURUGRAM: Air India, India’s leading global airline, has introduced seven new languages to its round-the-clock customer support services. Customers may now opt for service in Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu in addition to the existing Hindi and English.

As a country, India has incredible linguistic diversity and several dialects spoken across the length and breadth of the country. By integrating these seven Indian languages, Air India aims to elevate customer experience and provide a more accessible experience for passengers who prefer to communicate in their native languages. The enhanced Indian language support reflects the airline’s vision of being a ‘global airline with an Indian heart’.

Air India’s IVR system will now automatically recognize the customer’s language preference based on the user’s mobile network, eliminating the need to manually choose a language, and thus reducing the response time.

“The introduction of multilingual support in Indian languages marks a significant milestone in our transformation journey. By integrating these Indian languages into our customer support services, we are not only expanding our reach but also strengthening the relationship with our customers, ensuring that every interaction with Air India feels familiar and inclusive,” said Rajesh Dogra, Chief Customer Experience Officer, Air India

Recently, Air India has deployed five new contact centers, offering round-the-clock assistance to its customers worldwide with dedicated desks for premium and frequent flyers. Special assistance in Indian languages to Air India customers will be available from 0800 hrs to 2300 hrs IST, every day. In addition, the airline implemented a comprehensive back-office insourcing strategy to manage emails, social media, and chat support in-house which has significantly improved the quality and efficiency of customer support services.

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