For now, Air India’s A350-900 aircraft are the only exciting aircraft in their fleet. As of writing this post, all six have already been inducted. Although, when I travelled for this trip, it was just the first jet in service. I usually love first flights, but I was away on a personal engagement in January when the first aircraft was supposed to be pressed into commercial service. So, I had to pass on the initial dates. However, when AI put the flights out for sale, they stated that flights on the A350 would be available only for February 2024. So, I booked some tickets to try out the jet across the various classes, including the Air India A350 Business Class.

Since then, Air India has also put the remaining A350 aircraft in service. The A350 currently operates daily flights between Delhi / Mumbai and Dubai. Also, flights operate domestically between Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai, and Delhi. You can check the entire schedule of flights on the A350 here.

After flying from Delhi to Bengaluru on the A350 in the Business Class cabin, I took a Bengaluru—Mumbai—Chennai flight in the A350 economy class the next morning. The flight was priced the same as a Bengaluru—Chennai flight at the time I booked it, so I figured I would rather try out more time on board the aircraft.

On the day of the flight, I arrived at the airport at about 4:30 AM for my 7 AM scheduled departure from Bengaluru Airport Terminal 2. I’d never left the airport, but I was just in the 080 Arrival Lounge for the night.

I hopped into the DigiYatra lane to quickly enter the airport and headed to the Air India aisles to collect my physical boarding pass. However, as it, funnily, only happens in Bengaluru, I was subject to some sort of a testing algorithm where I had to show my physical identity card, which the security personnel matched with the data he saw on the app and then waived me through. Most days, Bengaluru Digiyatra gates open just with the face and don’t need the boarding pass to be scanned in either.

Air India at Bengaluru Airport had the new branding rolled out, and I headed over to get a print of my boarding pass. The Business Class queue was empty, while there were queues in the Economy section.

Lucky enough, with my Air India Gold Tier, I could head into the Business Class queue and get my check-in done quickly.

A few moments later, I had an AI SATS Agent print out my Boarding pass for me and fill up a lounge invitation to the Bengaluru 080 Lounge.

Within 5 minutes, I was in and out of the queue. Air India is spending a lot of money issuing lounge access passes rather than just printing the invitation on the boarding pass itself. You’ll note that despite the flight being Bengaluru—Mumbai—Chennai, the boarding pass was issued as if the flight was BLR – MAA. This meant there was going to be no need to alight in Mumbai.

The security check was quick, and I headed to the 080 Lounge on the Domestic Pier while I waited for my flight to be called. Luckily, the lounge was not full to capacity, and there was a special counter for Air India and Vistara invitations. Remember, at Bengaluru Domestic Terminal 2, Air India will eventually have its own lounge.

I headed to the gate about 1 hour before the flight, as I feared schmoozing at the lounge and missing my flight. The aircraft was right where we left it the night before.

The gate area was disciplined, with most people waiting to board the flight without feeling the need to do so in a standing position.

The AI-SATS ground handling agent eventually announced boarding about 35 minutes before departure. Business Class and Gold and above members of Air India Flying Returns and Star Alliance Gold members were asked to step forward first.

Finally, I was back on board the Airbus A350-900 aircraft of Air India, and I boarded through gate L2, the second gate on the plane. The crew was joyful and upbeat. I was back on board VT-JRA, the second time within 12 hours of setting foot on it the first time around.

Air India AI589
Bengaluru (BLR) – Mumbai (BOM) – Chennai (MAA)
Wednesday, February 28, 2024
Departure (BLR): 07:05 AM
Duration: 2 Hours 
Arrival (BOM): 09:05 AM
Departure (BOM): 10:11 AM
Duration: 1 Hour 44 Minutes 
Arrival (MAA): 11:55 AM
Aircraft Type: Airbus A350-900 
Seat: 30A (Economy)
Meal Service: Breakfast (x2)

The economy cabin’s middle section was still being assigned on a payment basis, so I decided to sit in the last cabin on the plane. Here is a quick look at the 3x3x3 layout on board in Economy, which is all in red upholstery now, a departure from the previous orange and red alterations.

I was in 30A, all the way at the back. I quickly found my way to my seat.

Fortunately, the A350’s bins are massive, and I was able to put both of my bags sideways for the duration of the flight. There was enough space for everyone else.

Air India’s A350-900 Interiors

Air India has 264 seats in the economy section, which takes up most of the mid and aft sections of the airplane. It sits right behind the premium economy section, which is a very small area between the second and third doors on the aircraft.

Air India went with the Collins Aerospace Pinnacle economy class seat (actually, Aeroflot selected it, and AI just followed with it). The modular design gives it the lightest weight in its class without compromising comfort. With features such as the four-way headrest, high literature pocket, and easily accessible power ports, Air India will ensure you travel in comfort, sleep well in this Economy cabin, and don’t crush your knees into the person ahead of you. The seat pitch is a generous 31″, and the width is 17.5″.

There was also a coat hook on each seat.

Air India’s Airbus A350-900 Economy Class In-flight product

I settled into my seat and noticed the 12″ in-flight screen. Working in-flight entertainment is an excellent sign for Air India. The monitor has touch controls for browsing and making choices on the IFE.

Under the seat monitor, there was a USB A/C Charging port.

On each seat, a disposable earphone was waiting.

Under the seats, AC power sockets were also installed, two to be shared between a set of three people.

A reasonably large tray table was also a part of the seat package. It worked with a fold, so you could have it half open for a beverage service, and fully open when you want to lay out your laptop or eat your meal

Here is a perspective of the legroom you can expect in the A350 economy cabin of Air India.

I made a quick trip to the lavatory, and there was enough room in this standard-size lavatory.

Air India’s A350-900 Economy Class In-flight service

It was a cloudy day, and I waited while looking out the window for boarding to complete. Fortunately, the whole process was swift, and we were ready for an on-time departure from Bengaluru.

I had the lead cabin crew member, Vandana, come around and greet me and other Gold/Maharaja guests before departure. This was a different experience than the flight the night before, when no one greeted the guests, even in the premium cabins. I hope she could impart to the rest of the young crew joining Air India nowadays how professional and aware she was of the duties of a cabin crew.

While I waited to depart Bengaluru, looking outside at sister ships from Air India Express was a great view.

The tailcam also had some great views of the aircraft while we waited to push back as well.

Soon enough, it was time to push back. The cabin crew performed a manual safety demonstration as we taxied towards the runway.

The crew jumped into action after takeoff, and when the flight levelled, they first served special meals. Then, about 40 minutes after takeoff, they rolled out the carts and started going around distributing breakfast. There were a couple of options (one vegetarian and one non-vegetarian). I went with the vegetarian breakfast.

On the tray were Sambar Wada and Upma, along with croissant, some yoghurt and a chipset of butter.

It was nothing to write home about or be disappointed with, as this is perhaps one of the most served meals in the Indian skies. Surprisingly, though, there was no beverage service after (tea and coffee). It had beautiful views outside, though. After the trays were collected, I nodded off for a bit, only to wake up once we were closing into Mumbai.

We landed in Mumbai and taxied past some old artefacts, such as the Air India Boeing 747-400, as we arrived at the gate.

For about 45 minutes, the plane was on the ground, and ten people were going onwards to Chennai (who had boarded from Bengaluru). A team of cleaners boarded the plane after the passengers de-boarded, and a security team checked our boarding passes and hand baggage. Subsequently, the rest of the passengers boarding from Mumbai were allowed on board. It took about twenty minutes for the plane to be filled up again, and at about 10:05, we pushed back again for our next flight.

It took us about 20 minutes to climb out with the busy Mumbai Airport.

I was very sleepy by this point in time, so I nodded off as soon as we were in the skies. However, the crew came around serving meals almost right after take off, and this time they wanted me to try the meals from Mumbai.

I went with the non-vegetarian breakfast option this time around.  On the tray was Mango Yogurt, a croissant and a butter chiplet.

In the casserole, there was Egg Bhurji, a Parantha and a Vegetable Cutlet. It was a good package, overall.

This time around, a tea and coffee service was provided. It was a shorter leg than BLR-BOM, but they still managed to do a coffee run.

The flight was uneventful overall and went by quickly. Soon enough, we were in Chennai, and after five hours and the long way home, I was finally off the jet for a few hours.

The Chennai Airport Terminal, which is used by Air India, was empty, but that is a story for another day.

Bottomline

Overall, this was a good flight experience with Air India. Domestic flights on wide-body aircraft are rare, so I try to get in when I can, but this was even more special since this product will eventually fly abroad and is the new flagship of Air India. The economy class cabin looks comfortable for 8-9 hour long flights (not sure about the US, but Europe would do just fine). All the airline has to do is bring their crew service standards to an even level.

What do you think of these A350 aircraft being added to Air India’s fleet and of the experience they offer?

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Pros

+ Brand new aircraft
+ Comfortable, well-padded seats
+ Working IFE
+ Meal Choices

Cons

None, really

Rating