Air India's first Airbus A320neo with new livery enters service

The A320neo – registered VT-RTN – took off as flight AI 813 from Delhi at 08:22 this morning and landed in Bengaluru at 10:43 after a flight of two hours and 22 minutes, per Flightradar24. The airline is putting the plane to good use and has three more flights scheduled today on the same sector. At the time of writing, it was on its second flight of the day, flying back to Delhi as flight AI 507.

Simple Flying has been tracking Air India’s A320neo in the new colors for a few months. In May, it was spotted featuring the new livery as it rolled out of the hangar in Toulouse at the Airbus facility in France.

Earlier this month, it finally arrived in New Delhi, registered as VT-RTN. The carrier didn’t take long to put it to commercial use, flying it between two key metro cities in the country – a route that sees a substantial number of business passengers.

While it’s certainly notable to spot an Air India narrowbody plane in new colors, what’s also noteworthy is that it features a three-class configuration – economy, premium economy, and business class.

The economy cabin has 132 seats set in a 3-3 configuration, each offering a 28-29-inch seat pitch and 4-inch recline, a PED holder, and a coat hook. The premium economy cabin offers 24 extra legroom seats arranged in a 3-3 configuration across four rows. Each seat has a four-way adjustable headrest, 32 inches of seat pitch, and four inches of recline.

The business class cabin features eight seats where guests can expect 40 inches of seat pitch and seven inches of recline; amenities include leg rests, footrests movable armrests; four-way adjustable headrests; extendable tray tables that deploy at the push of a button; USB charging ports; AC power outlets (in business class).

Air India’s latest A320neo joins other A320s in old livery featuring premium economy cabins. This aligns with the carrier’s vision of enhancing its inflight offerings both on domestic and international routes.

Not too long ago Vistara was India's only carrier offering premium economy seats; however now Air India offers this choice to customers on select international/domestic routes amid merger plans under Tata Group into consolidated full-service carrier.