The year 2026 is off to a fresh start as we welcome a gleaming new chapter in our transformation story with the first line-fit (made-for-Air India) Boeing 787-9 landing at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. Our cockpit crew comprising four Air India pilots completed a non-stop ferry flight of 16 hours and 58 minutes from Boeing’s Everett factory in Washington state to New Delhi marking not just an arrival of an aircraft but the airline’s commitment towards delivering a world-class flying experience.
The new aircraft, which bears the registration VT-AWA, comes with 296 seats across three cabin classes: Business, Premium Economy, and Economy. The aircraft features bespoke cabin interiors installed directly on Boeing’s production line, the details of which will be unveiled in the coming weeks.
Beginning the year of change
This is just the beginning of many more milestones to follow during the course of the year. 2026 will see a total of six widebody aircraft deliveries (Airbus A350-1000 and Boeing 787-9) including the recently delivered VT-AWA. The new cabins of the Boeing 787-9 will become the new benchmark across our Boeing 787 fleet. In line with this, 26 of Air India’s legacy Boeing 787-8 aircraft are progressively undergoing retrofits. The programme is well underway, with many of these aircraft scheduled to complete the process and return to service with refreshed nose-to-tail refit in 2026, including a fresh livery in the new Air India branding. What this effectively means is that by the end of this year, nearly 60% of our widebody fleet will have modern interiors.
Commercial deployment
The new Boeing 787-9 is expected to enter international, long-haul commercial service in February 2026, and the schedule of operations will be announced shortly.
