Sampling the ‘New’ Air India: Bengaluru to Mumbai on an A320neo
Background
Being from Sheffield, Kashmir may not seem to be the most obvious place to go for my sister’s wedding. However, opting to get married in a lavish ceremony in her fiancé’s hometown in April 2026, being her loyal younger brother, I could hardly miss out on the occasion. Furthermore, having six weeks off between finishing my role in aviation safety and starting sponsored pilot training in Spain, this seemed to be a perfect opportunity for me to get away and see the wondrous sights of Northern India.
Opting to spend the best part of four weeks in India, I soon began planning an itinerary that would enable me to see the sights of the region, spend time with my family, and catch a fair few flights across the country. Having long wanted to visit the spectacular high altitude region of Ladakh, this was my first stop, embarking on a week-long tour across the region before spending a week in Srinagar for the wedding. Afterwards, I would accompany my family down to Amritsar and then over to Himachal Pradesh before ending my trip in Guwahati on the other side of India. Whilst my choice to leave India via Guwahati may seem a bit illogical, the reason for this was that I would be flying aboard Bhutanese national carrier Druk Air’s fifth-freedom route from there to Singapore.
After planning my itinerary, I booked a one-way ticket to India. Looking to get things off to an aviation enthusiast-y start, whilst Delhi would have been the most logical gateway, lured in by a ride onboard a Lufthansa Boeing 747-400, my journey would take me from Manchester to Bengaluru via Frankfurt. Arriving in India at the opposite end of the country to Jammu and Kashmir, I soon navigated to Google Flights and searched for flights from Bengaluru to Leh, Ladakh’s capital and home to its only airport with flights to other regions of India.
Booking
Sitting at over 10,000 feet, Leh’s Kushok Bakula Rimpochee Airport is far from India’s busiest and sees just a small handful of flights per day, with destinations limited to Chandigarh, Delhi, Jammu and Srinagar, operated by Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet. Nevertheless, this serves both a vital civilian and military purpose, and like many airports in India, it is also an important military base. Thus, when looking for flights, all one-stop options involved an overnight stop in Delhi, with flights to Leh only operated early in the morning when the weather is usually the best. With no major preference between Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet, I decided that I would go for the cheapest ticket, which was surprisingly offered by the only full-service carrier amongst these, Air India, whose flights stood at a reasonable £110 for a one-way ticket.
Following some experimentation, being an aviation enthusiast wanting to experience the delights of India’s airline scene, I deciphered that for an additional £30, I could embark on a three-leg journey that would enable me to fly on three different Air India aircraft types. Specifically, I would fly on a former Vistara Airbus A321neo from Bengaluru to Mumbai on Sunday morning, and after an all-day connection, I would then embark on some Air India heavy metal, namely a Boeing 777-300ER from Mumbai to Delhi. Following a seven-hour connection in Delhi, I would dart up to Leh on an Air India Airbus A320neo, the airline’s ‘neo’ workhorse on Indian domestic routes, with 94 such aircraft in operation following the absorption of Vistara.
Whilst this itinerary was most certainly illogical to a non-enthusiast, enabling me to fly on three different Air India aircraft types and experience the delights of the ‘new’ Air India, this was a no-brainer. Thus, I soon booked this via Last Minute, which was the only booking platform that enabled me to book this itinerary for a comparatively low price. Once I had booked my ticket and received my booking reference, I was able to use this to manage my booking on Air India’s website. Despite flying on the cheapest ticket, I was delighted to find that this included 15kg of hold luggage, and I was able to pre-reserve a small number of seats without additional payment. Making the most of this, I soon selected window seats near the rear of the aircraft for all three of my flights and was all set to head off on my adventure. In addition to this, travelling with a 23.7-kilogram suitcase, I ended up purchasing an additional 10kg of hold luggage for 6,615 rupees (about £52).
As the days flew by, I began to look forward to my trio of flights with Air India. This was an airline that I had minimal experience with, with my sole Air India flight taking the form of a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner ride on the airline’s long-gone fifth freedom route from Seoul Incheon to Hong Kong in 2017. During that flight, I had been impressed by the warm and friendly crew, but not so much by the worn and battered state of the relatively young aircraft (you can read my review here!). However, since then, much had changed, with the airline being privatised and undergoing a refresh and rebranding; thus, I was excited to travel on board the ‘new’ Air India.
Throwing a slight spanner in the works and derailing my plans to fly on board some heavy metal, a couple of weeks after booking, Air India cancelled the Boeing 777-300ER operated leg of my itinerary from Mumbai to Delhi, and rebooked me on an Airbus A320neo operated flight. Seeing as all other Air India services between the two cities that day were operated by Airbus A320neos, I opted against attempting to rebook onto another flight. Meanwhile, totally removing any sort of variety in aircraft types, several weeks later, I noticed that the equipment for my first leg had been downgraded from an Airbus A321neo to an Airbus A320neo.
Eventually, departure day neared, and as with most Air India flights, online check-in opened 48 hours before the departure of the first flight in my itinerary. However, seeing as I had already selected seats online, I was in no major rush to complete this and indeed put this to the back of my mind and did not check-in until I reached Bengaluru.
The Journey
Following a long ride on a Lufthansa Boeing 747-400 from Frankfurt, the Jumbo Jet came to a halt at the international portion of Terminal 2, squeezing itself in between an Emirates Airbus A380 and a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. Whilst we had been scheduled to arrive at 0150, the aircraft did not pull up to the gate until 0344, having experienced a technical issue on the way to the runway in Frankfurt, which saw us park up at a remote stand for about ninety minutes whilst engineers replaced a piece of computer hardware. Fortunately, considering that I was not scheduled to leave for Mumbai until 0830, this delay neither jeopardised my plans nor caused me any stress. In fact, if anything, this worked in my favour as it replaced time on a bench at Bengaluru Airport with time in a presumably more comfortable aircraft seat.
Contrasting with the rapid disembarkation process, immigration was a slow affair, much more so than the two times that I had landed in India previously, specifically in Delhi and Kolkata. Whilst the checks to get into the country took some time in themselves, the wait time was exacerbated by the fact that only around half the passport control desks were open, whilst the aircraft had arrived just after the aforementioned Virgin Atlantic service from London. Finally, around an hour after disembarking the aircraft, the inquisitive immigration officer stamped my passport, at which point I officially entered India. From there, I wandered through the rather plush duty-free store where I was greeted by an Indian elephant, before reaching the large baggage collection hall. One of the advantages of this slow process was that, by the time I had reached the baggage carousel, my suitcase could already be seen spinning around.
With my bag in hand, I followed the signs for the exit and without any customs checks, I entered the landside arrivals area. As with many Indian airports, the arrivals area consists of a half-outside area that is home to a cluster of cafés and shops, along with a fair few official taxi booths from where eager representatives seemed to constantly call out ‘taxi, taxi’. However, unless they could take me on a 3,000-kilometre road trip through India to Ladakh, I had little need for their services!
As you would expect, given Bengaluru’s status as India’s third-largest city, Kempegowda International Airport is India’s third busiest airport, having seen over forty million passengers pass through its doors in the 2024-5 financial year. This covers a large area and features two separate passenger terminals, named Terminal 1 and Terminal 2, with a complimentary shuttle bus connecting these. Both terminals serve both domestic and international flights, with the former primarily utilised by local low-cost carriers such as Akasa Air, IndiGo and SpiceJet and the latter by full-service carriers and, where applicable, their low-cost subsidiaries, such as Air India Express. This meant that, adding to the ease of my international-to-domestic connection, I would not need to take a bus to the other terminal, and instead, all I had to do was take an escalator up to the check-in hall. Having had next to no sleep for 24 hours, by then I was shattered and in need of a nap. Anticipating my zombie-like state, I had initially considered booking a short stay at the in-terminal hotel. However, I opted against this when I discovered the high prices for what would be no more than a four-hour stay. Indeed, given my delayed arrival, I was rather happy that I hadn’t gone for this option.
Following signs for departures, I headed up a long escalator and immediately found myself standing outside the rather busy facade of the domestic check-in hall, with plenty of people lingering around heading off on early morning flights to destinations across India. As seems to be the case at most Indian airports, the terminal is out of bounds to those who are not travelling. Thus, to enter this, you need to have both a valid boarding pass (or a booking in case of international flights where there is a greater chance that you cannot check in online), as well as some form of official identification. Having not checked in online, luckily for me, plenty of check-in machines could be found outside the terminal and could be used by all passengers heading off on domestic flights operated by all three carriers that serve the terminal – Air India, Air India Express and Star Air. Thankfully, within a few taps, the machine spewed out my three boarding passes as well as my baggage tag, and at this point, I joined the short queue leading up to one of the terminal’s two entrances. Whilst there were not too many passengers in front of me, the process of getting into the terminal was a little slow. This involved scanning your boarding pass on an automated gate, which was then checked by a tough-looking camouflage-wearing Central Industrial Security Force officer. Once they were content, the gate asked for passengers’ consent to take a photograph of them, and upon pressing ‘yes’, a photograph was taken. This was easier said than done, especially considering that most passengers were juggling heaps of luggage. I should, however, note that this process is likely quicker for those who use Digi Yatra, and as with most major Indian airports, there were several gates reserved for the exclusive use of those who have signed up to this service. After about five minutes, I went through this process before being permitted to enter the terminal’s check-in hall.
Once finally inside, I was greeted by a uniquely designed check-in hall that was cavernous and pleasantly green, and served to revive me a little after my long semi-overnight slog from Frankfurt. Looking around, plenty of wood had been used in its design, whilst a cornucopia of plants could be seen hanging down from here, there and everywhere, both reflecting local architectural styles and Bengaluru’s status as the ‘Garden City’. Seeing as virtually all flights from the domestic portion of the terminal are operated by Air India or Air India Express, it is fair to say that the Indian giant rules the roost in the terminal and once inside, I was immediately greeted by a long line of the airline’s bag drop-off counters. As you would perhaps expect, given both the fact that this is one of India’s latest terminals and Bengaluru’s role as an important tech hub, there appeared to be a focus on automation, and thus, plenty of automated bag drop-off counters could be seen. Seeing as I already had a baggage tag, I was escorted to one of these counters, although somewhat defeating the purpose of the unmanned desks, Air India ground staff supervised these and insisted on doing the entire process for each passenger from start to finish! With no queuing required whatsoever, soon, the friendly ground agent had sent my bag on its way, and I was free to continue on my journey. I should note that my suitcase was checked all the way through to Leh, a journey of over 24 hours with two long stops in Mumbai and Delhi, and thus, I was a little worried that this may end up by the wayside and fail to appear in Leh.
As nice as the check-in hall was, given the fact that this lacks any airside views and features little in the way of facilities other than a few cafés and shops, I decided to steam onwards to security. As is the case across much of the world, first up was a line of automated gates, and after tapping my boarding pass on one of these, I was permitted to continue onwards without issue. A few steps later, I reached the large security hall and was directed towards one of the checkpoints. Seeing as most of these were open, despite the busyness, I was able to walk straight up to a checkpoint. However, as those who have passed through Indian airport security will know, I was required to remove just about anything and everything electrical from my bag, which served to slow things down. Once done, I parted with my bags as these were sent through the scanner before passing through a metal detector. As with all passengers, I was then wanded down by a friendly CISF agent who remarked, ‘I can tell you’re a handsome British man by your moustache!’ With this being the nicest thing anyone has ever said about my moustache, feeling happy, with no need for any additional checks, I was free to continue on my journey.
With security behind me, I was immediately greeted by the sight of a cluster of fancy luxury brand outlets that towered over me on both sides of the walkway. Clearly aimed at those lucky enough to fly towards the pointy end of the aircraft, and with no desire for anything by Boss, Chanel, Michael Kors, Mont Blanc or the like, I continued walking. I then made it to what cannot really be described as a food court, but was home to most of the terminal’s eateries. There, hungry travellers had a fair number of options to choose from. However, the vast majority of these came in the form of overpriced Western chains such as Costa Coffee, Hard Rock Café, James Martin Kitchen, PF Chang’s, Starbucks and Tim Hortons. Whilst I was not too hungry after my pre-landing kathi roll, I was in dire need of a coffee to keep me going until I reached my transit hotel in Mumbai. Thus, I decided to stop at the Canadian doughnut stop, Tim Hortons, for a black coffee, which set me back a reasonable 331 rupees (£2.61).
With my coffee in hand, I sipped it as I explored the nooks and crannies of the terminal. Much to my delight (although as expected), the fantastic architecture of the landside area continued into the airside portion of the terminal. With this featuring high ceilings, plenty of wood and refreshing greenery. Furthermore, continuing with the homages to local design, culture and architecture, this featured a good number of local artefacts and pieces by local artists. Importantly, the terminal appeared to be clean throughout, with an army of cleaning staff working diligently to ensure that this remained in a tidy and presentable state. My only slight complaint was that the wifi could only be accessed by those with Indian phone numbers, and there were no wifi counters available as there are in several other major Indian airport terminals. Thus, yet to activate my Indian SIM card as I needed wifi to do this, I was left incommunicado with the outside world for the duration of my stay.
Aviation enthusiasts will be happy to hear that large windows offer good views of the action outside at the terminal’s stands. Following my wander around, I plonked myself down at the gate area for gates D10 and D11, and watched as the skies began to brighten, illuminating a fair number of Air India Express Airbus A320neos and Boeing 737s jetting off on their first tasks of the day, with Air India’s low-cost subsidiary dominating the departure boards that morning with flights to just about all corners of India. As I waited, the first of two Mumbai-based former Vistara Airbus A320neos came to a halt at the stand directly outside. Despite arriving first, this aircraft would operate Air India’s 0900 flight to Mumbai, which was soon followed by another Airbus A320neo, which came to a halt at the neighbouring Stand V40 and would be operating my 0830 service. This was immediately greeted by an army of ground crew provided by Air India’s in-house ground handling company, AI Airport Services, who soon connected the jetbridge and belt loaders, ensuring the prompt disembarkation and unloading of luggage.
At the time of my flight in March 2026, Air India operated a massive total of 94 Airbus A320neos, with these being a mixture of aircraft that Air India had taken directly delivery of from Airbus, and jets that had been previously operated by Vistara and were absorbed into the Air India fleet during the merger in November 2024. That day, I would be flying on Airbus A320-251N VT-TQS, a former Vistara jet. As with most former Vistara aircraft at the time of my flight in March 2025, this aircraft still sported the livery of its former operator, albeit with ‘Operated by Air India’ titles by the L1 door and at the rear of the fuselage. This particular aircraft was assembled at Airbus’ Toulouse Blagnac plant and first took to the skies in August 2023, making it around a young two and a half years old at the time of my flight in March 2026. After completing a series of test flights, in September, the aircraft was handed over to Vistara, at which point its temporary French registration of F-WWBQ was replaced with VT-TQS, and the aircraft was ferried to its new home in India. Since then, the aircraft has undertaken a mixture of domestic and international services, flying to destinations across India as well as to airports overseas in the Middle East and across South and Southeast Asia. In the week before my flight, this particular aircraft had been a domestic workhorse, shuttling passengers across India and making visits to Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Cochin, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Patna, Pune, Udaipur and Varanasi.
As with all Air India services, regardless of the size of the operating aircraft, that morning, my boarding pass advised that boarding for my flight would commence at 0730, an hour before departure. However, being sceptical that it could take an hour to fill an Airbus A320neo, I was not too sure that boarding would indeed commence at that time. As our scheduled boarding time neared, the gate area became a little busier, although I would say that the number of passengers milling around did not encroach on the 164 needed to fill this particular jet.
At this time, four smartly dressed gate agents could be seen undertaking their final preparations for boarding. As I had predicted, boarding did not commence at 0740, but instead began 45 minutes before departure. At this time, an announcement was made in Hindi and English inviting those in Business as well as elite members of Star Alliance frequent flyer programmes to proceed forward for boarding. However, speeding through the boarding categories, no more than a couple of minutes later, those in Group B and Group C were called forward for boarding. Unlike back at home, the Economy cabin was boarded from front to back, rather than back to front. Being in Group C, I soon made my way up to the podium where a friendly ground agent checked my boarding pass to ensure that I was boarding at the right time, and was not a Group D passenger who was particularly eager to board. Once they had checked this, I tapped my boarding pass on one of the gates, which let me through without issue, before I made my way down the stairs and past another stern-looking CISF agent before reaching the jetbridge.
Steaming down the jetbridge, without any waiting, I stepped into the forward galley where I received a warm and friendly namaste from the Cabin Supervisor and a colleague who sported Air India’s famous red sari. With no need for a boarding pass check, I turned right and immediately entered the smallest of the aircraft’s three cabins, Business. As with most former Vistara Airbus A320neos at the time of my flight, this retained the interior of the now-defunct Indian carrier, with Vistara purples appearing to be the dominant colours as opposed to Air India’s reds. In Business Class, two rows of Collins Aerospace MiQ recliners could be seen, each of which was covered in a purple and beige-orange pleather cover and came complete with a large adjustable headrest.
Air India is one of the few airlines that I have flown that offers three classes onboard their Airbus A320 fleet (the other being China Southern Airlines), thus, I kept trundling down the purple carpet and soon arrived in the aircraft’s Premium Economy section. This is notably less plush than the Business cabin, and those expecting a ‘real’ Premium Economy seat as you would find on a widebody would likely be disappointed. Instead, these feature four rows of what appeared to be, at first glance, Collins Meridian Economy seats, arranged in a 3-3 configuration. However, these offer passengers slightly more legroom than those in Economy, and each seat is topped with an adjustable headrest, allowing for a slightly more comfortable flight experience. These are further distinguished from the Economy seats, as they feature a different pleather cover that features purple and beige tones.
Next up was Economy, where I received two more warm welcomes from the crew and soon reached Seat 19A. As you would expect, those seats in Economy are the most basic onboard the aircraft, and lack the adjustable headrests that can be found in the other two classes. Yet, they are far from spartan and come with a setback pocket, a tray table, a coat hook, a USB-A port, a fold-out device holder and a literature compartment. The latter contained a plastic wallet in which the latest copy of Air India’s Namaste.ai inflight magazine, a safety card, a sick bag, and a card promoting the Vista wifi-based streaming service could be found. Meanwhile, the rear of each seat featured an advertising holder which that day promoted Zoho ERP, an enterprise resource planning software (whatever on earth that is!).
After stowing my bag in the overhead locker, I strapped myself in and got myself comfortable for the flight to Mumbai. Once settled, I was left with very mixed feelings. It is fair to say that the seat was not the most spacious in the world, yet, given the fact that this aircraft primarily operates domestic services, I would say that the amount of legroom was adequate for most of the short hops that the aircraft undertakes. Meanwhile, I did spot a fair number of marks and scratches, despite the aircraft being less than three years old, which made me wonder whether Air India has invested less in these cabins’ upkeep, seeing as they will one day be replaced by Air India’s new Airbus A320neo cabin. However, returning to the positives, despite the short turnaround, the aircraft appeared to have been cleaned to a high standard, and I failed to spot crumbs, stains or rubbish from previous passengers.
As passengers streamed onto the aircraft, calming music that blended traditional music from across India with modern beats rang out and provided a nice soundtrack to the boarding process, whilst, in keeping with the Vistara theme, purple moodlighting beamed down from above. Perhaps thanks to the organised nature of the boarding process, passengers made it onto the aircraft efficiently and without fuss, thus boarding was completed at 0805, 25 minutes before the flight was scheduled to depart. As I had predicted whilst waiting at the gate, a few empty seats could be seen in Economy, and I was able to enjoy the luxury of a vacant middle seat. Looking around, most passengers flying to Mumbai that morning appeared to take the form of smartly dressed business people, as well as a few lanyard-wearing Air India employees and a Virgin Atlantic flight attendant who was presumably positioning to Mumbai to work the airline’s Airbus A350 flight to London Heathrow.
Once the final passenger had boarded the aircraft, the crew wasted no time in commencing their preparations for departure, making several passes through the cabin before a pre-recorded announcement rang out requesting that ground staff leave the aircraft. Indicating that we would be making a punctual departure, soon, the jetbridge was manoeuvred away from the aircraft and the cones were removed in preparation for pushback. Inside the cabin, the calming boarding music was replaced by pre-recorded announcements in Hindi and English requesting that passengers refrain from smoking, vaping, consuming their own alcohol or chewing tobacco whilst onboard the aircraft. This was immediately followed by the Cabin Supervisor’s welcome announcement, during which they introduced themselves and the two pilots, thanked all for flying with Air India, ran through the usual warnings, advised that the crew could speak Hindi and English, noted our 1 hour 25 minute flight time and ended this by promoting Air India’s frequent flyer programme, the Maharaja Club.
With fourteen minutes to go until we had been scheduled to depart, the aircraft jolted backwards, and a series of modern whirrs and whines could be heard as one of the Airbus A320neo’s large CFMI LEAP-1A26 engines quietly spooled into life before the flaps were partially extended in preparation for our departure. Inside the cabin, at this time, the crew took the aisle to perform a safety demonstration to a pre-recorded announcement in Hindi, English and Kannada, the local language in Bengaluru. By the time the safety demonstration had come to an end, the Airbus had started its long journey to the end of Runway 09L, whilst the cabin crew undertook a final pass through the cabin to ensure that everything was secure and in place for our departure.
Sitting on the left-hand side of the aircraft, our taxi to the runway afforded me good views of a selection of jets from both India and abroad. Aside from the masses of Air India Express Airbuses and Boeings, these included a Qatar Airways Airbus A350, which was being readied for its departure from the international side of Terminal 2, having been grounded in Bengaluru since the start of the Middle East conflict. Next up was Terminal 1, which at that time was unsurprisingly dominated by jets from India’s largest airline, IndiGo, and also featured plenty of Akasa Air Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets. Other aircraft seen there included examples from Alliance Air, SpiceJet and Star Air, plus a Boeing 737-800 operated by Czech carrier Smartwings and sporting a Travel Service livery. This aircraft was operating flights on behalf of SpiceJet, a carrier that has become increasingly reliant on wet-leases since the pandemic. As we moved towards the end of the runway, a host of freighters from Aerologic, Blue Dart Cargo and Qatar Airways Cargo could be seen at the cargo terminal.
Seeing as we would be departing in the midst of the morning rush, and with just one runway in use for departing aircraft, we had a very slow stop-start journey to the end of the runway. During this, the second engine spooled into life, and eventually, at 0847, the Airbus made its way onto the runway. Once on the runway, without coming to a halt, the two engines whined as we commenced what seemed to be a fairly long and gentle take-off roll. Eventually, the pilot flying pulled back on the sidestick and the nose was pointed skywards as we climbed up into the slightly hazy skies of Karnataka.
Once safely in the air, the gear was retracted with a firm clunk, and the Airbus left the airport behind before climbing out over the flat fields that sit to the east of the airport. Upon reaching the city of Bijapur, the Airbus banked to the left before passing over the towns of Nandi Hills and Chikkaballapur. However, unfortunately, for the first twenty or so minutes of the flight, the haze meant that relatively little could be seen of the scenery of Karnataka as we headed north-northwest over the state. As we climbed, the Cabin Supervisor conducted another announcement, this time running through all the usual warnings once again, and noted the soon-to-commence meal service.
Around twenty minutes after taking to the skies of Bengaluru, the aircraft reached its cruising altitude of 38,000 feet as we neared the city of Ballari, known for its steel factories and its old fort. At this time, those flight attendants looking after those in Economy emerged from the rear galley armed with a service card and commenced the breakfast service. Those more used to flying short-haul in most other parts of the world may be shocked to find that, despite the short flight time, passengers were treated to a full meal, and soon enough, a friendly flight attendant asked me whether I would like the chicken or the vegetarian option. Opting for the latter, a small tray was soon handed over to me, which contained the main dish, a packaged bread roll accompanied by a tub of Amul butter, a fruit yoghurt, and a 200ml bottle of Tata Copper water to wash it all down with. Meanwhile, eating utensils came in the form of wooden cutlery, which came in a smartly designed Air India package along with a serviette. Being rather hungry at this point, I wasted no time in peeling back the foil of the main dish, which revealed this to be paneer bhurji curry, which was accompanied by aloo tiki and several triangles of stuffed paratha. Getting stuck in, this was of decent quality and quantity, especially considering the length of the flight and ultimately I was left with absolutely nothing to complain about, so top marks Air India!
By the time I had finished munching on my breakfast, the skies had cleared below and revealed the countryside of the northern portion of Karnataka as we sped towards the state of Maharashtra. Meanwhile, some excitement was provided when a Saudia Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner sped past in the opposite direction 1,000 feet below us, exactly halfway into its journey from Jeddah to Kuala Lumpur. Returning my focus to the happenings inside the cabin, given the short flight time, it wasn’t long before the crew passed through the cabin collecting the remains of the service before retreating to the galleys.
Whilst inflight entertainment was hardly needed on such a short flight between two business hubs, especially considering that plenty of passengers could be seen furiously tapping away on their laptops, Air India’s Airbus A320neos feature a wifi-based inflight entertainment streaming system, Vista Stream. Upon connecting to this, I found the system to work without issue and feature a user-friendly interface, which left me with no complaints whatsoever. When it came to the content available, this was identical to that which can be found onboard all of Air India’s jets that are fitted with inflight entertainment screens. This included a good array of films and television programmes from across the world, with, of course, a heavy focus on both major Bollywood and Hollywood hits. The music, however, was slightly less international, with most of the playlists and albums focusing on local hits.
In addition to the inflight entertainment system, Air India publishes a monthly inflight magazine, Namaste.ai. Published in English only, this featured a smorgasbord of articles on a range of subjects, yet, as with many inflight magazines, had a specific focus on the destinations that Air India serves. For example, this featured articles on Rome’s culinary highlights, travelling California’s Route 66, art in both Delhi and Prague, how to explore Shanghai in a day and the wilderness of Odisha. Other articles included interviews with actresses Gul Panag and Shweta Tripathi, and author Shobha Tharoor-Srinivasan, as well as a few pieces highlighting the latest happenings at Air India, including the delivery of their first wholly Air India Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. As inflight magazines go, this was hefty and provided a fairly decent read; however, this was heavily laden with advertisements promoting all sorts of goods and services.
Returning to the journey, almost as soon as we left Karnataka behind and entered the skies of Maharashtra, the aircraft could be felt commencing its descent. At this point, a pre-recorded announcement was played advising passengers that the toilets would shortly become unusable as we had commenced our descent, and encouraged those who needed to do so to use these (or, unsaid, forever regret it!). True to this, the seatbelt signs were soon re-illuminated, at which point the Cabin Supervisor performed a pre-arrival announcement with all the usual warnings regarding seatbelts, window shades, seatbacks and tray tables. Wasting no time, once this announcement had been made, the crew passed through the cabin and seemed to have their work cut out advising passengers to put their seat in the upright position.
Looking outside, the fields and the occasional town passed by before the land rose up and transformed into the impressive old hills that sit just to the east of Mumbai. Whilst these seemed like a world away from the urban sprawl I was expecting to see, indicating that we were nearing our destination, at this point, the flaps were partially extended. Once the green hills had faded away, all of a sudden, the peace of the countryside transformed into the sprawl of Navi Mumbai, complete with a mixture of tall skyscrapers and old low rise buildings that provided passengers with a welcome glimpse of the chaotic modernity of the city. At that point, the flaps were extended further, and the landing gear was lowered as we sank towards Thane Creek before passing over Ghatkopar.
With Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport surrounded by residential areas, as we sank lower and lower, the Airbus appeared to be nearly skimming the tops of the buildings of Kajupada and Jarimari before we whizzed past the airport’s popular spotting spot and crossed the perimeter fence. A grand total of 01:25 after taking off from Bengaluru, the Airbus made a firm touchdown on Runway 27 before the aircraft decelerated with vigour, perhaps in an effort to minimise our taxi time. Looking outside, as we slowed, we whizzed past a line of luxurious business jets belonging to Mumbai’s rich and famous. These included several jets in the Reliance Industries portfolio, including their luxurious Airbus A318 Corporate Jet, alongside several other brand-new Gulfstreams and Globals belonging to various parties. Perhaps the real highlight for true aviation enthusiasts, however, was the rotting Air India Boeing 747-400, which now appeared to be in a very sorry state. At this time, the Cabin Supervisor performed their final announcement of the flight, thanking passengers for flying with Air India, advising all to remain seated and offering one final promotion of the Maharaja Club.
As we vacated the runway, the international portion of Terminal 2 appeared, as well as the cargo stands, where a cluster of mostly widebody jets from both home and abroad could be seen as we made our way around this before coming to a halt at Stand V25L at the domestic portion of the terminal at 1021, one minute after our scheduled arrival time. One thing I have noticed about airports in India is that in most cases, the ground crew are quick to service an aircraft once it arrives on stand, and thus, once the engines spooled down, the jetbridge was connected in no time at all. Thus, the queue in the aisle soon began to budge, and it wasn’t long before I found myself thanking the crew and disembarking the aircraft, heralding the commencement of my long layover in Mumbai.
Summary
For the most part, I had a pleasant experience with Air India. The cabin crew were friendly and welcoming, the catering was great considering the length of the flight, and the inflight entertainment worked well, and I’m sure would have been an appreciated feature on a longer flight. My only slight complaints from my experience relate to the slight wear and tear of the seat, as well as the fact that this was a little lacking in space. Nevertheless, neither of these would put me off flying with Air India again, and my experience left me looking forward to my flights up to Delhi and Leh.
