On Monday the airline said it will deploy its new Airbus A350 aircraft on the Delhi-New York route from November 1 and the Delhi-Newark route from January 2.
Air India has announced 60 per cent of its US flights from winter will have new or upgraded cabin interiors. However a recent retrofit on its narrow body Airbus A320 aircraft has got a poor review due to cramped seat pitch in the economy cabin. Air India's Managing Director and CEO Campbell Wilson said that customer feedback about its A350 product and service on domestic routes is encouraging and the deployment of the aircraft on the US routes underscores its commitment to continuous improvement.
With the deployment of the A350s, 60 per cent of all Air India flights to the US will feature new or upgraded cabin interiors. Over the last few months it has replaced its older aircraft with newer ones on services to San Francisco and on its Mumbai-New York/Newark flights. Air India operates a mix of Airbus and Boeing narrow body and wide body aircraft on domestic and overseas routes.
Reconfiguration
Last week it began operations of its first Airbus A320 aircraft in a three class configuration. While Vistara flies the aircraft with business, premium economy and economy seats, Air India Airbus planes are being reconfigured for product commonality. The economy class features 132 seats with comfortable upholstery each offering 28-29-inch seat pitch with a 4-inch recline, a personal electronic device holder and a coat hook. Ajay Awtaney, editor, LiveFromALounge.com, an aviation and loyalty-focussed website, described Air India’s new A320neo economy class as “knee crushing”. Awtaney said there is nothing to worry about the seat but the problem is with seat pitch, that is, distance between two seats inside the cabin. Recounting his experience on a Delhi-Bengaluru flight, Awtaney wrote he felt claustrophobic the moment a passenger in front of him reclined the seat. He had carried a laptop but there was no space available even if he wanted to work. “This will not be a comfortable configuration to fly in economy class for 4-5 hour journeys,” Awtaney said. Air India did not immediately respond to an email query.