P Krishna Kumar
New Delhi, Feb 25 (UNI) With 85 per cent of the narrow-body aircraft retrofitting completed and retrofittting of the legacy wide-body fleet already underway and poised to get completed later this year, Air India hopes to ensure that nearly 93 per cent of its fleet offer completely new cabin experiences by end of this year.
This was conveyed by Manish Puri, Head of Global Sales while addressing a media roundtable on the sidelines of SATTE Travel Expo on Wednesday. Puri said the airline is entering the next phase of transformation after focusing largely on internal systems over the past three years. “Last three years was predominantly internal changes,” Puri said, adding that from 2026 onwards the focus will shift to “360-degree communication – informing the customer, partner, media, everybody what is now in store.”
Puri said 2025 marked a key milestone for the narrowbody fleet transformation. By October 2025, nearly 87 per cent of the 320/321 family aircraft had been retrofitted. “We completed almost 87 per cent of the retrofitment of the narrow body. Now we have 104 aircraft of Air India Express with the same three cabins – eight business class, 24 premium economy and 132 economy seats,” he said.
The move has brought uniformity in configuration across domestic and short-haul international routes such as Kuala Lumpur, Vietnam, Dubai and Doha, eliminating frequent seat and layout changes that earlier caused customer disruption. The narrowbody overhaul triggered the airline’s November brand campaign, positioning the refreshed product as a visible sign that “change is in the air”.
Talking about the wide-body legacy carriers operated by the company, Puri said that 26 Boeing 787 Dreamliners will undergo a comprehensive retrofit programme now. “The first two have already gone for retrofitment and should be joining in March,” he said, adding that all 26 aircraft will be fully upgraded by September-October, 2026.
The retrofit is extensive. “When it goes for retrofit, everything is scraped off. It’s only the shell which remains. Everything put inside is brand new,” he noted. Alongside retrofit, the airline is inducting factory-fresh, line-fit widebodies. The first Boeing 787-9 with the new cabin has already been delivered. During 2026, the airline expects six new widebody inductions, including the 787-9 and the Airbus 350-1000 series.
By the end of this calendar year, around 50 per cent of the widebody fleet will be in a “new avatar”, he said, even as retrofit of the Boeing 777 fleet is scheduled to begin next year. Puri reiterated that the airline’s order book now stands at around 600 firm aircraft, following an initial order of 470 aircrafts, an additional 100, and 30 more announced later.
“So far, 57 aircraft have been delivered. 543 more are supposed to be delivered,” he said, underlining the scale of the transformation. Giving a snapshot of operational impact, Puri said out of 4,900 weekly flights currently operated, 3,600 are already on new or retrofitted aircraft.
Giving a domestic and international bifurcation, Puri said that 3,000 weekly flights in domestic and 600 in international are on a new product. By end of calendar year 2026, that number will rise sharply. “You will find 93 per cent of our flights will be on a new or retrofitted product,” Puri said.
As the hardware transformation gathers momentum, the airline is also upgrading onboard offerings. Changes in menu and beverage selection have already begun on select widebody services, including the Airbus A350 and former Vistara Dreamliners.
The new 787 cabin will feature upgraded business-class suites with enhanced privacy. “When you fly the retrofit or the new 787-9, you will not be able to distinguish whether it’s an old series or a new one. The cabin is like this,” Puri said, describing the uniform experience.
With fleet modernisation progressing and customer-facing communication set to intensify from 2026, Air India is positioning itself to deliver a consistent three-class experience across both narrowbody and widebody operations, marking a decisive shift in its long-haul product strategy.
