Air India has been in a rush to refurbish its old aircraft, which has caused it to receive a lot of criticism. As reported in December 2024, the airline will launch the 787 retrofit in April 2025 and expects the aircraft to return to the fleet by October 2025. For the Boeing 777, the retrofit will take even longer and only undergo a “refresh” in 2025.

Air India “refresh” the 777 aircraft.

Air India began refreshing its Boeing 777 fleet in February 2025 amid global supply chain disruptions, which affected its complete retrofit plans. The first aircraft, primarily used on US and Canadian routes, to be sent out was the 17-year-old Boeing 777 registered VT-ALK. It flew to Singapore, to be fixed at the facilities of SIA Engineering Company, on February 3, 2025, for a refresh.

The refresh focuses on introducing new seat covers, cushions, curtains, and carpets, which align with Air India’s updated brand identity. However, this “refresh” will not touch any hardware on the plane, which means the seats or the IFE will not be replaced, or Premium Economy will not be introduced on these aircraft since the lack of hardware is what is causing AI to switch from Refurbish to Refresh in the first place. Air India hopes to refresh all their 777 aircraft by December 2025.

The retrofit of the legacy Boeing 777 fleet with new seats and entertainment systems will now commence in early 2026.

Air India’s first 777 aircraft is back after a “refresh”.

VT-ALK flew back into India on April 2, 2025, and is now in Delhi. It is scheduled to operate domestic flights on April 3, 2025, before it goes back into international operations on April 4, 2025, with a flight to Canada. Here is how the aircraft now looks on the inside.

The updated First Class Cabin looks nice, with the shine on the off-white back and the stains gone. Hopefully, with the deep scrub, they will also not have embarrassing Instagram videos and have to make refunds. Of course, the IFE systems are still the old one and will be changed, along with the seat when the aircraft goes for a full retrofit.

In Business Class, you will see more difference now, with much better-looking upholstery on the seats.

And the Economy Cabin doesn’t look bad as well.

Bottomline

Air India has to delay retrofitting its Boeing 777 aircraft because it cannot get seats from the vendors early enough. In the meantime, the airline has started to refresh these aircraft so that customers get better-looking seats and feel better. The first aircraft is back from the workshop and will head into service on April 3, 2025.

What do you think of Air India’s current plans to refresh their aircraft?

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