The longtime flag carrier of India is in the midst of a renaissance. After being reacquired by the Tata conglomerate, Air India has embarked on a journey of fleet renewal to replace its long-despised fleet. This includes a set of relatively young widebody aircraft acquired from Delta Air Lines and Etihad Airways, among others. While this flight has originally been scheduled to be operated by an ex-Delta Air Lines Boeing 777-200LR, it was later upgauged to an ex-Etihad Airways Boeing 777-300ER.

Booking Air India

For this one-way flight from Mumbai to Delhi, I paid a sum of INR 24,900 (~ USD 285, GBP 220), booked directly on Air India’s website. This appears to be the standard fare for this relatively short domestic flight, connecting two of India’s most important cities. While this does seem to be unnecessarily high for a barely two-hour flight, Air India does maintain a monopoly on premium domestic offerings. Well, at least until low-cost competitor Indigo unveiled their Business Class product back in October 2024.

Check-in

Expecting some traffic, I left the Taj Mahal Palace three hours before this 16.00 departure. Sure enough, traffic was at a standstill on much of Airport Road leading to Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. Thankfully, when I was dropped at the kerbside of Terminal 2, I still had two hours to spare.

Standard at any airport in India, there is a queue with a document check before you can get inside the terminal. As this was my first trip to India, I was quite confused by this formality. Having cleared the checks, I was met with yet another point of confusion as I tried to find Air India’s check-in counters. While I easily found Domestic Economy Class counters, I was perplexed not to find any priority check in of any kind.

After being advised to queue at the snaking Domestic Economy Class line by two separate ground staff, I was finally told that Business Class passengers could check in at the international departure counters. Thankfully, these counters do not have a long line, though the time it takes to get checked in could really be improved!

Lounge

Air India sends its premium passengers to the overcrowded Adani Lounge (Domestic). Being the airport’s owner and operator, Adani maintains an effective monopoly on lounges in the terminal. While the domestic lounge offering needs plenty of improvement, I have heard good things about the terminal’s international lounges. Either way, make sure not to arrive any earlier to minimise your time at the lounge.

Boarding

Having decided that it wasn’t worth staying at the crowded Adani Lounge, I made my way to Gate 53. After all, I thought it would be better to find an empty seating area and work a bit on my laptop. Sadly, connecting to the WiFi network was nearly impossible, especially for people with foreign phone numbers. In spite of multiple requests, I could not get the OTP required to connect to the network.

While our boarding passes listed 15.00 as our boarding time, the ground staff maintained radio silence as we approached this time. Instead, a long and snaking line had developed by this point, with no clarity on the boarding procedure. Colour me surprised when the line started moving 15 minutes later, initially without any announcements.

There was neither priority boarding for Business Class passengers nor a separate line for boarding. Seeing that there was no end to this, I finally joined the queue. Between this and the check-in kerfuffle, I really wished Air India would do better! Especially having paid nearly five times the going fare for Economy Class!

Once it was my turn, I was told to cut to the front of the crowded line on the jetbridge to board from Door L1. Lo and behold, Door L1 wasn’t open after I gingerly made my way through to the front. After alerting the ground agent, I had to wait some more as he opened the door for me. Wow.

Air India Boeing 777-300ER

Following Tata’s takeover of Air India, the airline acquired a sub-fleet of six Boeing 777-300ERs from Etihad Airways. These planes maintain Etihad’s configuration, featuring eight seats in First Class seats, 40 in Business Class, and 282 in Economy Class. Our flight today was operated by VT-AEQ, which was first delivered to Etihad Airways in May 2013 before joining Air India in October 2023.

Business class cabin

The 40-seat Business Class cabin features Stelia Soltys II seats, which you’ll also find on Emirates, Thai Airways, Asiana Airlines, and Garuda Indonesia, among others. Spread into 10 rows between two cabins, the seats have a 1-2-1 configuration ensuring direct aisle access for all passengers. Considering the speed to which these planes are deployed, Air India had elected to fully retain Etihad Airways’ outdated finishes.

A characteristic of Stelia Soltys is its staggered configuration, featuring seats that alternate between those closer to the aisle (even rows) and those away from the aisle (odd rows). Considering how open the seats feel, I’d pick the latter seats, which have extra privacy thanks to the positioning of the side table. Furthermore, I’ll note that the seats closer to the aisle do not feature any special features (like extra storage space), thus limiting their appeal.

Likewise, the centre seats have a similar arrangement, of seats next to and away from the aisle. The latter (on odd rows) are dubbed ‘honeymoon seats’, with the two seats placed very close to each other. These are perhaps the best seats if you’re travelling with your partner, considering the close seating position. A privacy divider does rise up between the seats, in case you’re stuck sitting here with a stranger.

Seat details

On this flight, I was seated at 7K, the right-hand side bulkhead seat in the main Business Class cabin. While the cabin’s old Etihad Airways finishes are undoubtedly outdated, I was impressed with the condition of my seat. In particular, the deluxe Poltrona Frau upholstery has aged spectacularly well.

Owing to the staggered configuration, each seat comes with a side table which doubles as the footwell for the seat behind. With Etihad’s customisation, the table is fitted with a reading light and an ambient white light. Behind the lights, you’ll also find the poorly placed literature pocket, which faces the aisle.

Across the seat is the low-resolution touchscreen LCD monitor, which was definitely showing its age. The monitor is complemented by a handheld remote control on the armrest. Under the armrest, you’ll also find the headphone port, a USB-A outlet, and a shallow storage bin.

Fixed to the seatback next to the television is the tray table, alongside a coat hook. This swivels forward before resting right in front of the seat.

Under the television is the footwell; this has a padded ottoman which joins the seat in bed mode. Underneath that is a shoe locker inside which carry-on bags are not permitted. Finally, I’ll also note that the cabin has overhead air vents.

Amenities

At boarding, a small pillow and a wrapped woven blanket were provided on the seat. These were honestly not great, looking more like amenities you’d find in Economy Class than Business Class. As this was a short domestic flight, this didn’t matter – though I’d hope they’d provide better pillows and blankets on their long-haul flights.

Furthermore, the provided earphones were cheap and substandard – definitely an Economy Class offering at best! I don’t understand why the airline couldn’t just provide proper headphones on these flights. At the very least, I liked that Air India still prints inflight magazines. After all, these have become way too rare after the Covid-19 pandemic!

Departure preparations

As boarding was underway, the cabin crew came around to offer a selection of pre-departure beverages. These include a cold-press pomegranate juice, a masala vitamin smoothie, or a glass of water. I settled for the juice, which was nice and refreshing!

The cabin crew soon came back to distribute hot or cold towels and the inflight dining menus. At the same time, an ancient-looking welcome video started screening; this showed sceneries of India over a cheesy soundtrack of easy-listening music. Meanwhile, I kept myself distracted by watching the various planes passing by out the window.

As we waited for pushback clearance, the safety video was played on the entertainment monitors. Sadly we didn’t get Air India’s energetic new ‘Safety Mudras’ video, having the airline’s old video screened instead. Once that was completed, the crew came around the cabin to take our dinner meal orders.

Departure from Mumbai

After boarding and the departure preparations were completed, we finally started pushing back from the terminal at 16.16 – 16 minutes past our departure time. At this time, the cabin manager welcomed us on board on behalf of the flight commander (or captain in Air India speak); he highlighted a flight time of 1 hour and 35 minutes. As we taxied to the runway, I was surprised to see a Yemenia Airbus A320-200 at Terminal 2. I didn’t even realise they still have regular international operations! After all, while Yemenia’s jets were a common sight in the past, they’ve become much rarer due to the civil war in Yemen.

Owing to Mumbai airport’s single runway in use, there was a significant wait before our turn to take off. At the very least, I was distracted by the multitude of interesting different planes landing at the airport. For one, I was even surprised both Corendon Airlines and Air Tanzania have a presence in Mumbai.

After over half an hour of queueing, we finally got our turn for departure – taking off from Runway 27 at 16.49. Thanks to the airport’s proximity to the Mumbai metropolitan area, we were treated to grand views of the city as we banked right away from the coast and flew north towards Delhi.

Dinner

About five minutes after takeoff, the seatbelt signs were extinguished, prompting the crew to prepare for the inflight refreshments service. Served on this flight was a light dinner service, featuring an impressive four choices of mains.

After reviewing the options at boarding, I ended up with the Kasundi Chicken with Peppers, which is served alongside tadka noodles and a ‘pea and nut cake’. The tray also featured an appetiser of kaju chana berry chaat and a dessert of ‘blueberry cheese cake with berry compote’. While the menu suggests that there there a choice of desserts, there was really no free choice.

While I love Indian food, the meal was err… not great. The dish clearly used an inferior cut of chicken, and the accompaniments were dry and bland. Certainly not up to the spicy reputation of most Indian dishes, if you ask me! The appetiser and dessert were decent, though I didn’t really care for their taste. Furthermore, the jar of tomato ketchup seemed like an odd choice of condiment to pair with the meal.

For reference, the following is what the Paneer Palak Tikki looked like, complete with Khajur Tukda with Jaggery Sauce.

The cabin crew in charge of Business Class was extremely friendly, even if they didn’t have the most polished service. When I inquired about my missing cup of masala chai, the cabin chief personally apologised that it hadn’t been served earlier. Regardless, I wasn’t one to complain, especially as I was sipping the excellent chai to the beautiful views out the window!

To conclude the meal, water bottles were distributed to keep passengers hydrated for the remainder of the flight.

Inflight Entertainment

After the meal, I decided to check out Air India’s inflight entertainment offering. I was quite impressed with the system, which is also what is used on the airline’s long-haul international flights. In total, I counted 351 movies on offer, including 136 in English and 185 in Hindi, as well as 44 world movies. I’ll note, however, that the inflight map has not been loaded in the system, instead replaced by a simple time remaining screen.

In addition, there were also 158 TV shows loaded on the system. This included 16 in comedy, 31 in drama, 90 in light entertainment, 13 in sports, and eight shows in wellness. Curiously, an inflight yoga video was also a part of the offering.

What really stood out, however, was this compilation of random K-Pop music videos in the TV category. While I don’t quite listen to K-Pop, I certainly couldn’t pass up the novelty of watching this on an Air India flight. 😛

Flatbed mode

During the flight, I also decided to check out the seat’s flatbed function. I’ll admit that while the footwell felt rather tight, I was fond of the seat’s excellent firm padding. This definitely made the seat a great sleeping surface. Now if only I had better bedding…

Lavatory

Before landing, I decided to check out the lavatories, which are wedged between the two Business Class cabins. There are two lavatories, one located on each side of the cabin. I was happy to find a clean and dry washroom, which was stocked with an air freshener spray and hand sanitiser.

Arrival in Delhi

About 15 minutes before arrival, the captain turned on the seatbelt signs in preparation for descent. However, the actual cabin preparations weren’t conducted until six minutes before landing. This certainly gave time for several more winks of sleep in a reclined position!

As the sun set completely, we were soon greeted by the city lights of Delhi, guiding us all the way to Indira Gandhi International Airport. We finally landed at 18.31, 11 minutes past our scheduled arrival time. Our touchdown was rough, perhaps owing to the hazy winter conditions in New Delhi. It was only a further 11 minutes later before we arrived at our gate, parked near an Air India Airbus A320-200.

Verdict

After over two years as custodian of the airline, I was disappointed to see that there wasn’t much change to Air India’s soft product under Tata. Between the bad lounge, outdated cabins, and mediocre dining, there wasn’t a lot to like about this flight. Don’t get me wrong – this may indeed be the most comfortable way to fly between Mumbai and Delhi. However, for its price, I really felt underwhelmed by Air India’s offerings. While I’m optimistic the airline will improve substantially in the future under Tata’s Vihaan five-year plan, I will reserve any judgment until I fly Air India again.

Read more from this trip here!