Air India to fly wide-body A350 jet from Jan 22 on domestic routes

Aircraft that has three-class cabin configuration will later be used for 'destinations across continents'

Air India will fly its first A350-900 aeroplane from January 22 to Indian cities and later to "destinations across continents" after it got possession of the wide-body jet in December.

The airline has opened bookings for short-haul domestic routes and will ferry passengers on these routes on all days except Tuesday: Bengaluru – Mumbai – Chennai – Bengaluru – Chennai – Hyderabad – Bengaluru. It will operate on the Bengaluru-Delhi-Bengaluru route on Tuesdays.

“...the A350 aircraft will be later deployed for longer-haul flights to destinations across continents,” said the Tata group airline in a release.

This aircraft will have three-class cabin configuration with a total of 316 seats, including 28 private business, 24 premium economy, and 264 economy.

 

In February, Air India placed the world’s second-largest single-tranche aircraft order for 470 planes: 250 with Airbus and 220 with Boeing.

In July, European aircraft manufacturer Airbus disclosed an order comprising 70 A321neo, 140 A320neo, 34 A350-1000, and six A350-900 aircraft for Air India.

The plane manufacturer last month revealed that Air India’s order was now for 140 A321neo, 70 A320neo, 20 A350-1000, and 20 A350-900 citing business requirements.

While the A320neo has a range of 6,300 km, the A321neo has a range of up to 8,700 km. Meanwhile, the A350-900 aircraft has a range of around 15,500 km.

Air India has a fleet of 127 aircraft of which 15 are grounded.