Air India planning to restart Mumbai – Nairobi flights?

Air India’s integration with Vistara is ongoing, and as of November 12, 2024, the two airlines will be one. The Vistara brand will be discontinued, and its human capital, aircraft, loyalty programme, and other parts of the airline will be absorbed into Air India. That opens up immense opportunities for the airline to open new flights.

Air India’s Mumbai – Nairobi plans

Air India has been operating a thrice weekly flight between Delhi and Nairobi, Kenya, with a Boeing 787-8 aircraft since 2017. It used to operate on the route in 2019. AI is working on plans to restart the Mumbai—Nairobi operation thrice a week. AeroRoutes, which covers the launch of new routes via GDS filings, has reported that AI had briefly filed on the GDS systems.

AeroRoutes says the first flight is scheduled for November 25, 2024. Based on the seat map, the airline intends to operate this route with Vistara A321neo aircraft, based on the seat map listed on the GDS. The flight schedule listed was,

AI989 BOM0140 – 0515NBO 321 135
AI990 NBO0615 – 1515BOM 321 135

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Screengrab of GDS via AeroRoutes

As you can see, the airline will face competition on the route from Kenya Airways, which operates twice-daily flights with its Boeing 737-800 aircraft to Mumbai, and IndiGo, which operates a daily service with its A320neo.

Bottomline

Air India is planning a Mumbai – Nairobi flight three times a week, which might take off in November 2024. The airline also appears to be planning to use one of the Airbus A321neos of Vistara for this operation. The finalised details are unavailable, and this flight still needs to be opened for reservation, so things could change between now and then.

What do you think of Air India’s plans to relaunch Mumbai – Nairobi?


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About Ajay

Ajay Awtaney is the Founder and Editor of Live From A Lounge (LFAL), a pioneering digital platform renowned for publishing news and views about aviation, hotels, passenger experience, loyalty programs, travel trends and frequent travel tips for the Global Indian. He is considered the Indian authority on business travel, luxury travel, frequent flyer miles, loyalty credit cards and travel for Indians around the globe. Ajay is a frequent contributor and commentator on the media as well, including ET Now, BBC, CNBC TV18, NDTV, Conde Nast Traveller and many other outlets.

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