Air India inducts new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, long-haul international flights to begin in February

On January 7, Air India completed the title transfer of the first line fit Dreamliner at the Boeing's Everett factory in Seattle, US, and the aircraft landed in Delhi on January 11.

• Air India to use new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner for long-haul flights from February
• The aircraft features 296 seats across Business, Premium Economy, and Economy
• Five more wide-body aircraft to be inducted into Air India's fleet this year

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Air India will deploy its newly inducted Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on international long-haul routes from February, marking the first new Dreamliner to join the airline’s fleet after its takeover by the Tata Group.

On January 7, the airline completed the title transfer of the aircraft at Boeing’s Everett facility in Seattle, the US, following which the plane landed in Delhi on January 11.

The aircraft is a “line fit” Dreamliner, meaning it was built specifically for Air India with customised features installed directly on Boeing’s production line. The last such line-fit Dreamliner inducted by Air India was in October 2017, when the carrier was still under government ownership.

“The new Boeing 787-9 is expected to enter international, long-haul commercial service in February 2026,” the airline said in a release.

Registered as VT-AWA, the aircraft has a total of 296 seats spread across three cabin classes — Business, Premium Economy and Economy. It also features bespoke cabin interiors, details of which will be revealed in the coming weeks.

Air India, which was loss-making before being acquired by the Tata Group in January 2022, plans to induct five more wide-body aircraft this year, including Airbus A350-1000s and additional Boeing 787-9s.

The airline has placed orders for 350 Airbus aircraft and 220 Boeing aircraft. Of the Airbus order, six wide-body A350s have already been inducted into Air India’s fleet, while 51 narrow-body Boeing 737-8 aircraft are operating with Air India Express.

In parallel, Air India’s existing Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners are undergoing extensive retrofitting. Several of these aircraft are expected to return to service in 2026 with a complete nose-to-tail refresh.

“By the end of this year, nearly 60 per cent of our wide-body fleet will have modern interiors,” the release said.

Air India currently operates 26 Boeing 787-8 aircraft and six Boeing 787-9 aircraft that earlier belonged to Vistara, which has since been merged with the airline. The Air India Group now has a fleet of over 300 aircraft, with 185 planes under Air India and the remaining operated by Air India Express.