Every Air India Flight to Heathrow Is About to Feel Brand New

Air India says that from January 2027, every one of its London Heathrow flights will operate with new or upgraded cabins. The airline has spent the past two years rotating refurbished aircraft onto the route, and the final piece is the daily service from Heathrow to Bengaluru, which switches from a legacy Boeing 787-8 to a retrofitted 787-8.

The change on that route is more than cosmetic. The retrofitted jet has all-new interiors, seats and a modern in-flight entertainment system, and its layout moves from two classes to three by adding Premium Economy. The airline has not published seat counts for the new cabins or an exact switch date beyond January.

Elsewhere at Heathrow, flights to Delhi are operated by a mix of Airbus A350-900s and Boeing 787-9s, while Mumbai flights use a mix of new 787-9s and retrofitted 787-8s. That means the plane you get on a given day may still vary, so it is worth checking the aircraft type when booking if the cabin matters to you.

Capacity is growing at the UK’s other airports too. London Gatwick–Ahmedabad, four times weekly, moves from a 787-8 to a larger Boeing 777-300ER, adding 2,700 seats a month in each direction. Birmingham–Amritsar, three times weekly, gets the same upgrade for an extra 2,000 seats a month each way.

Sources: Breaking Travel News