Air India will fly new 787-9 on Mumbai – Frankfurt route effective February 1, 2026

Air India has recently taken delivery of its first Boeing 787-9 aircraft, configured to the airline’s requirements and standards. Obviously, people are now wondering where the aircraft will be heading in commercial service, and what the product inside will be like. The official reveal of the aircraft will be done at Wings India 2026.

Air India’s first Boeing 787-9 between Mumbai and Frankfurt

Air India has announced a significant enhancement to its popular Mumbai-Frankfurt route, with the deployment of its newly delivered first-line-fit (or made-for-Air India) B787-9 aircraft featuring new cabin interiors, starting February 1, 2026. The route, till mid-August 2025, was operated largely by VT-TSQ, the lone leased Boeing 787-9 in the Vistara fleet, which was inherited by Air India. Once it returned to the lessor, the route was replaced by a Boeing 787-8, then a Boeing 777-200LR.

Air India operates five flights per week between Mumbai and Frankfurt, providing connectivity between India’s financial hub and Germany’s. With this, all Air India flights to Germany will now be operated by new or upgraded aircraft, including flights between Delhi and Frankfurt.

On the inside, while Air India will do an official reveal later in the month at Wings India, here is the kind of business class to expect.

There are 296 seats on the plane, according to an official announcement, although the seat map on both the GDS and the Air India website shows only 278. At the front, there are 30 Business Class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration.

This is followed by 28 Premium Economy seats in a 2-3-2 configuration, which is a full row more (7 seats) than the Air India x Vistara ones inducted earlier.

And from there on, there are 220 seats in the economy section, which are 28 fewer than the Economy Cabin of the Vistara x Air India 787-9. I anticipate better legroom with this distribution, of 1 inch per economy class seat (even after accounting for 1 more row of Premium Economy in the mid-section of the aircraft). I think the missing seats will be somewhere in Economy, but it is something I cannot piece together at the moment without physically looking at the plane.

This route is the perfect fit for the new aircraft. It was a route operated by a new aircraft until August 2025, when they had to switch to an older aircraft because the 787-9 had to be returned. Also, the route requires only one 787-9 for both directions, so the aircraft will be fully utilised on rotations.

Bottomline

Air India will deploy the new 787-9 aircraft on the Mumbai-Frankfurt rotation, effective February 1, 2026. The flight operates five times weekly and will switch back to the 787-9 after being operated with older-generation aircraft for about 5.5 months.

Tickets are open for booking at airindia.com

What do you think of Air India operating the brand new 787-9 aircraft on this route?

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