Narrow-Body Plan: Air India Express to Retire Business Class Seats on Most Flights by April 2025

Mumbai's Tata Group-owned Air India Express plans to axe its business class seats, opting for a narrow-body fleet with only economy seating, as the airline aims to focus on regional short-haul international flights.

Airline officials have revealed that from April next year, they will reconfigure planes with business-class seats into all-economy capacity aircraft. The move is part of Air India Express’s plans to consolidate its operations and network strategy within Tata Group.

Following recent supply chain disruptions hampering regular aircraft deliveries, the airline has so far inducted 35 new white-tail Boeing 737-8 planes. A plan for an additional 15 aircraft is on hold due to financial constraints, sources revealed. The airline boasts a current fleet of around 90 operational aircraft, including the narrow-body variants and Airbus and Boeing family planes.

With total fleet expected to reach over 110 by the end of the fiscal year, Air India Express will shift focus towards connecting smaller regional cities with major metropolitan hubs such as Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. They are also set to expand services in Southeast Asia and the South East region as part of its global network strategy.

Air India Express CEO Aloke Singh expressed during a corporate presentation recently that 'Tier 2' and '3' regions are at the forefront growth engine, making them priority cities for airline’s upcoming regional expansion plans. The airline will target growing economies in Tier-1 markets but has set an initial regional focus on expanding services to smaller regional towns and cities as key business objectives moving forward.

In recent history prior to this re-configuration plan, in February 2023 the company took its first major aircraft order batch of 470 planes from Airbus and Boeing.