Air India targets international long-haul market for growth with wide-body fleet expansion over 3-5 years

Air India’s Chief Commercial and Transformation Officer Nipun Aggarwal

Air India plans to boost its international presence by optimising its fleet and network to connect passengers travelling to Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas over the next 3 to 5 years, as part of its growth strategy and profitability blueprint, said Nipun Aggarwal, Chief Commercial and Transformation Officer, on January 10.

The airline aims to tap into the growing demand for direct long-haul flights, bolstered by the delivery of new wide-body aircraft. The airline plans to add 44 A350-1000, 20 Boeing 787 Dreamliners and 10 Boeing 777X widebody aircraft to its fleet over the next decade.

Aggarwal said currently 26 million passengers fly on long-haul routes annually, out of which Air India caters to 6 million. He added that most customers fly on long-haul routes through connecting flights due to a lack of direct flights, which Air India will look to address as it gets delivery of new wide-body planes.

Air India has estimated that long-haul international flights accounts for total revenues of around $16 billion annually for Indian carriers, much more than revenues from short-haul international flights ($8 billion) and domestic passengers ($10 billion).

As part of its growth strategy Air India plans to deploy its wide-body aircraft in its international market to provide customers a more comfortable and direct experience.

"Our wide-body fleet will have the reach and comfort which will help passengers travel directly from India to the world and won't have to get stuck in airports for layovers," Aggarwal said.

The airline's Boeing 787-9 and Airbus A350-900 planes will be used to fly customers on long-haul and high-density short-haul flights such as from India to the US, Canada, Europe, Dubai, and Singapore. Finally, Air India's A350-1000 and Boeing 777X planes will be deployed for ultra-long-haul flights to destinations like New York, San Francisco, and London.

Air India plans to deploy its Boeing 787-8 planes for flights from India to African, SAARC and SEA countries.

According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, the share of transit traffic in Air India’s international traffic surged from 2.84 percent in February 2023 to 5.2 percent in February 2024.

Air India is currently refurbishing 27 of its legacy A320 narrow-body aircraft with new seats and interiors along with the three-class configuration.

"With the retrofit exercise (set to) complete by mid-year, Air India will deploy an additional 50,000 premium seats every week on metro-to-metro routes," another executive from Air India had said in December.

Air India’s three-class configuration on its narrow-body fleet features eight business class seats, 24 premium economy seats, and 132 economy seats. On wide-body aircraft, Air India also has a first-class section.

Currently, Air India has premium seating in 86 aircraft, which includes 24 wide-body aircraft and 62 narrow-body aircraft. Overall, the airline deploys nearly 80,000 premium seats (including first class, business class, and premium economy) weekly within India. Of these, around 47,000 premium seats are deployed on metropolitan routes.

Domestic market

In the domestic market, Air India is increasing its focus on metro-to-metro markets, in order to cater to more premium economy and business class travellers, Aggarwal said.

He added that the airline has so far deployed higher capacity on metro-to-metro routes when compared to other competing domestic airlines. Air India currently offers 28 daily flights between Delhi and Mumbai while IndiGo operates 20 daily flights on the same route, Aggarwal said. Similarly, Air India has higher capacity deployment on Delhi-Bengaluru, Delhi-Hyderabad, and Delhi-Kolkata.

The airline is also flying its best planes on metro-to-metro routes including former Vistara planes in order to attract more premium paying customers.

Air India is also in the midst of upgrading 100 narrow-body aircraft fleet with a three-class configuration – Business Class, Premium Economy and Economy which will be completed by July 2025 and these aircraft will also be deployed on metro-to-metro routes.

On the domestic front, the Tata Group airline expects Air India Express to lead the charge in terms of market share gain over the next 2-3 years, Aggarwal said, adding that the subsidiary of Air India is expected to add around 200 aircraft to its fleet in the next 3-5 years, much more than Air India would add.

The fleet addition will help Air India Express expand its domestic presence and gain market share much faster than Air India in the next 3-5 years.