Air India has made an aircraft update on one of its India-US routes. The airline will soon replace the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner on flights between New Delhi and Washington, DC, with a Boeing 777 aircraft. This comes as Air India plans to utilize its newly acquired Airbus A350s on some popular international routes, freeing up some of its 777s.
Air India swaps 787 with 777 on Delhi-Washington, DC route
Air India
has an extensive network in the US due to year-round demand for these flights. The carrier almost exclusively deploys the Boeing 777 aircraft between India and the US except for one service – between Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) and Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) where it uses the 787-8 aircraft.
Photo: Abdul N Quraishi – Abs | Shutterstock
For quite some time now, Air India has been deploying the Boeing 787-8 on this ultra-long-haul flight, which comes with its own challenges (discussed later). But as first noticed by Ajay Awtaney of Live from a Lounge, Air India will start deploying Boeing 777-200LRs on this route from November 15, 2024. The carrier is likely to replace the 777-200LR further with the bigger 777-300ER to Washington DC later next year.
Air India first started this service in 2017 and is currently the only airline to offer non-stop flights between the two capital cities. The airline started this route with a 777 but later switched to the 787-8.
Why the change?
An ultra-long-haul flight needs an airliner with a sufficiently long range, without compromising on the load of the aircraft. A 777 is a suitable aircraft for this route, given its range, although it’s not as fuel-efficient as some of the newer generation planes.
However, for the longest time, Air India had been struggling with an insufficient widebody fleet due to grounded planes and no new orders. As such, the only available 777s were deployed to other popular routes to the US and Canada.
However, with the Tata Group taking over, the airline has repaired its grounded planes as well as acquired additional 777s in the last couple of years, as well as some new Airbus A350s from its big order last year.
Photo: Sundry Photography | Shutterstock
Air India has already started deploying the A350 between Delhi and London and will soon deploy the aircraft to New York. This will free up some of its 777s for deployment to Washington, DC.
Related
Air India Will Fly Airbus A350 Between Delhi & New York JFK This Winter
By deploying the A350, Air India is also introducing premium economy for the first time on these two routes.
Challenges with the Dreamliner flights to Washington, DC
While Dreamliners across the world are popular for long-haul flying and their fuel efficiency, Air India only has the 787-8 version of the type, which is smaller and has a shorter range than the most popular variant, 787-9.
As
analyzed by Simple Flying earlier
, the 787-8 has a range of 6,600 nautical miles with passengers and baggage, while Delhi and Washington, DC are separated by a straight-line distance of 6,522 nautical miles.
This really pushed the 787-8 to its limit and also came with certain load restrictions, depending upon the time of the year and accounting for fuel needs in case of diversion. However, with all the new planes tricking into Air India’s fleet, the airline can comfortably deploy some long-range jetliners befitting this route.
