Air India moves to ‘optimise’ long-haul schedules

Air India has announced a series of changes to its long-haul schedules, which are designed to offer “greater flexibility” and connectivity to travellers.

The airline, which completed its merger with fellow Indian carrier Vistara in November, said it was “optimising” schedules to make it easier for travellers to connect through its hubs in Delhi or Mumbai when flying from Europe to Australia and Southeast Asia.

This includes new flight times for its routes from Delhi to Frankfurt and Paris with daytime and night departures for both services, which are designed to connect with retimed flights from Delhi to Sydney and Melbourne. These changes will take effect from 1 February 2025.

Other moves will see Air India offering “upgraded” interiors on flights from both Delhi and Mumbai to Frankfurt using former Vistara Boeing 787-9 aircraft. This includes fully-flat beds in business class, as well as the “consistent availability” of premium economy cabins on these routes.

In a further change, Air India will deploy retrofitted Airbus A320neo aircraft on the Delhi-Bangkok route from 16 January, which will include economy, premium economy and business class cabins. The carrier will also increase frequency on this route to four per day from the start of 2025.