Air India Express seized reduced Gulf flights to speed up its fleet retrofit. After February 28,weekly flights plummeted from 360 due to US-Iran tensions. So airline jumped at chance to upgrade its Boeing 737-8s. Aiming for standardized all-economy cabins and modern amenities like charging ports.
With operations cut back,they snagged nearly two months before Gulf services slowly resumed late April. Now,Air India Express runs 285 weekly flights to region. Airline insiders said downtime was used well to push cabin upgrades across fleet.
Recently,Air India Express picked up 50 white-tail Boeing 737-8s,originally for other carriers,bought "as is,where is" from Boeing . These planes came with mixed seat setups,initially meant for business class. But now,airline plans to convert them to all-economy without long groundings .
Retrofit project already underway on five planes. Goal: modify 14 by July 2026,full completion by March 2027. Currently,three planes are in retrofitting process,with 3-4 handled monthly. With program acceleration,target now 6-7 planes monthly.
“We are retrofitting all our white-tail Boeing 737 MAX fleet to reset the guest experience,”said airline sources . Once done, fleet will have standardized 189-seat setup,adding roughly 700 seats overall. Like adding 3.7 new planes without boosting fleet size.
Retrofit will vastly improve onboard experience,bringing new seats with USB-A and USB-C ports at each seat,keeping all-economy layout. Work's happening at three AIESL sites in Thiruvananthapuram,Kolkata,and Hyderabad . Turnaround time: 10 to 22 days,depending on configuration .
Now,Air India Express's fleet includes 53 Boeing 737-8 MAX,26 Boeing 737-800 NG,12 A320ceo,12 A320neo,and 4 A321neo aircraft . A320 and B737 NG fleets also getting cabin upgrades to match brand standards,enhance passenger experience.
As airline handles geopolitical challenges and supply chain issues,its proactive fleet modernization could better position it in fiercely competitive aviation market…
