Air India has recently taken delivery of its first Boeing 787-9 aircraft, configured to the airline’s requirements and standards. The official reveal of the aircraft will be done at Wings India 2026. Yesterday, we wrote about the plane’s first route and seat configuration. But this has not been without drama. Air India’s biggest issue is with its new 787-9s, which will enter service on February 1, 2026 – seat certification by the regulators
Air India to fly 787-9 aircraft without fully-certified seats
Air India is in a bit of a soup with the regulator, as in the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) of the USA. You see, whenever any airline customises a seat on board its aircraft, such as changing the upholstery or adding a unique touch, the seat must undergo certification with the regulator. The process is expensive and a bit labourious, but given the extreme focus on aviation being a safe mode of transport, everything needs to be tested and certified. For instance, if you use a unique fabric for the business-class seat, the regulator will be interested in how long it takes to burn, because they are extremely interested in whether the plane can be evacuated within that time frame (90 seconds, if I know it fully well).
Now, their Boeing 787-9 had been ready and waiting in Charleston for quite a while, but the airline could not take delivery and fly it in because they needed the FAA and the Indian DGCA to sign off on the plane. The reason I heard from various sources was seat certification. And eventually, the plane flew into India early January 2026, but as I discovered and wrote about yesterday, the 296 seats on the plane did not tally with the actual seat map, which you can see when you try to buy a ticket.
It turns out, the issue behind this mismatched tally is seat certification. Air India is awaiting FAA approvals for 18 economy class seats. In the meantime, these 18 seats (nine of which are in row 26) are physically blocked and unavailable for sale in the meantime.
Air India spokesperson told PTI, an Indian news agency,
The seat product itself (RECARO 3710) is fully certified and in regular operation on many airlines worldwide; however, there is a regulatory interpretation affecting the 18 specific seats that we are working with the manufacturer and regulator to resolve.The 18 specific seats will only be offered for sale once full certification is received.
Now, this is not new. The FAA has received a plethora of requests to certify seats and is working to certify as many variants as humanly possible. Lufthansa has been unable to obtain certification for its Allegris concept, and in some cases, it is flying its planes with just 4 Business Class seats.
Air India is yet to receive certification for privacy doors on the Adient Ascent business class pods
Another issue has been the privacy doors on the new Adient Ascent suite, which will be the business-class product on board. With the rise of interest in privacy in the business class cabin, Air India did well to choose seats where a privacy door would be on offer on the new configuration of 1-2-1. Here is a picture from the 787-8 of the same product, which is currently in Victorville awaiting certification as well.
Again, no surprises, since the FAA will take its time doing the due diligence and certifying the seats. So, in this case, the Air India spokesperson said,
The sliding privacy doors in our business class suites will remain securely fixed in the open position and unavailable for passenger use, as this specific seat feature awaits regulatory approval. We expect to receive the necessary approval in the near future. All other seat features are available for passenger use
According to the airline spokesperson, the pending certification applies only to the new Boeing 787-9 aircraft, not to the retrofitted B787-8 aircraft. According to Air India, the certifications for seats and features on the B787-8 are complete, have been approved by the relevant regulators, and will be available for customer use. Yet again, this is not a new seat concept; it has been around for a while, with Qatar Airways among the operators.
Bottomline
Air India will operate its new 787-9 aircraft with 18 fewer economy class seats and without the privacy features enabled on the business class seats. These restrictions are due to the FAA’s timeline to complete the certification process for these seats. The airline will hence physically block the 18 economy seats when it operates the aircraft.
What are your thoughts on the restrictions with which Air India will operate this aircraft for the time being?
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