Air India to use Vistara's A320neo planes for all flights on 5 key metro routes

Tata-owned Air India on Thursday announced an optimisation of its domestic route network that will prioritise the deployment of Vistara’s newest Airbus A320 narrowbody planes on five key metro-to-metro routes, beginning December 1, 2024. This comes close on the heels of the integration of Vistara with Air India earlier this month.

Vistara, an erstwhile joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, operated its final flight on November 11.

Three cabin classes — Business, Premium Economy and Economy Class — will now be available on all flights on the five key metro-to-metro routes: Delhi and Mumbai; Delhi and Bengaluru; Delhi and Hyderabad; Mumbai and Bengaluru; Mumbai and Hyderabad.

Such flights will operate with ‘AI’-prefixed four-digit flight numbers beginning with ‘2’, such as AI2999 from Delhi to Mumbai.

Air India will also optimise flight schedules so that flight departures are spread out throughout the day, without reducing frequency. Air India now offers more than 1,000 weekly flights (round trips) on these key routes: 56x daily on Delhi-Mumbai, 36x daily on Delhi-Bengaluru, 24x daily on Delhi-Hyderabad, 22x daily on Mumbai-Bengaluru, and 18x daily on Mumbai-Hyderabad.

"The merger of Vistara into Air India has unlocked many new opportunities to improve our customer offering. By combining the strengths of both full-service carriers, we are able to consolidate our best narrowbody offering on routes where there is desire for a high-frequency, full-service product. We will progressively expand the coverage to more routes as Air India inducts new aircraft and completes the retrofit of our legacy narrowbody fleet during 2025,” says Campbell Wilson, chief executive officer and managing director, Air India.

Air India’s aircraft on the five key metro-metro routes feature 8 seats in Business Class, each offering 41-inches of pitch, 7-inches of recline, leg rest and footrest; 24 extra legroom seats in a dedicated Premium Economy Class cabin, with each seat offering 33-inches of pitch and 4-inches of recline; and 132 comfortable seats in Economy with 29-inches of standard pitch in the cabin and 3-inches of recline.

Air India says its optimised domestic route network will be progressively visible across booking channels including Air India’s official website, mobile app, and through authorised travel agents and partners.

Air India will continue to operate one widebody flight each between Delhi and Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad using its Boeing 777 or Airbus A350 aircraft, which will have ‘AI’-prefixed three-digit flight numbers.

The Tata Group airline last year placed an order of 470 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus as part of its $70 billion fleet expansion programme. Air India’s orders include 34 A350-1000, six A350-900, 20 Boeing 787 Dreamliners and 10 Boeing 777X widebody aircraft, as well as 140 Airbus A320neo, 70 Airbus A321neo and 190 Boeing 737MAX narrowbody aircraft.