Air India Will Launch Airbus A350 Service On Short Route From Delhi To Dubai Airport

Passengers traveling between Delhi and Dubai are spoiled for choice, with several carriers operating multiple flights daily on the route. And Air India will introduce its latest widebody plane – the Airbus A350 – between the two cities, giving passengers another aircraft option for their Dubai flights.

Air India’s A350 to fly to Dubai

Air India has announced that it will introduce its brand-new Airbus A350 aircraft on its first scheduled international flight to Dubai. The airline will start flying the A350 from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) to Dubai beginning May 1, and these flights are now up for reservation on Air India’s website and mobile app or via travel agents.

Photo: Eurospot

Air India currently operates a total of 72 flights a week to Dubai from five Indian cities, of which 32 are from Delhi. The schedule for its A350 Dubai service is as follows:

Flying on domestic routes first

Air India now has three Airbus A350s in its fleet: VT-JRA, VT-JRB, and VT-JRE. It has deployed these planes extensively on domestic routes in India before their eventual international debut as part of crew training, familiarization, and regulatory compliance purposes.

Photo : Aerospace Trek  | Shutterstock

The first of these planes, VT-JRA, started scheduled domestic flights in January, with Air India advertising these services in massive marketing campaigns. In recent days, it has flown primarily in South India on sectors such as Chennai-Bengaluru, Chennai-Hyderabad, and also to Mumbai.

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VT-JRB has also had similar routes, but it has also flown between Delhi and Bengaluru as well as Bengaluru and Hyderabad. VT-JRE was flying between Delhi and Mumbai at the time of writing and has flown exclusively between these two cities in the last few days.

These A350s feature 28 private suites with full-flat beds in business class, 24 seats in a dedicated premium economy cabin offering extra legroom and other enhancements, and 264 seats in economy. All seats offer the latest-generation Panasonic eX3 in-flight entertainment system and HD screens that offer more than 2,200 hours of entertainment content from around the world.

Photo: Air India

Symbolizing new aspiration

The A350 is Air India’s latest flagship aircraft, and it is expected to open up several new international routes in the coming years as the airline tries to match other leading global carriers. It has been preparing its crew and maintenance staff in the last few months to operate the A350 and even received permission from the aviation watchdog, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), for its engineering line maintenance.

The A350s are part of Air India’s massive 470 aircraft order with both Airbus and Boeing. Of the 250 new aircraft ordered from Airbus, 40 were for the A350. The carrier initially agreed to get six -900 variants meant for Russia’s Aeroflot and the rest as -1000 but later changed the order to split in the middle, with 20 each of the -1000 and -900.

Photo: Air India

With several more A350s set to join Air India in the coming years, the airline will, indeed, have the much-needed capacity to double down on its international network. Dubai is just the start!

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