In a move to optimise its network and enhance passenger experience, Air India announced on Wednesday that it will deploy former Vistara A320 aircraft, known for their premium cabin offerings, on five major metro-to-metro routes. These include Delhi-Mumbai, Mumbai-Hyderabad, Delhi-Bengaluru, Mumbai-Bengaluru, and Delhi-Hyderabad.


As part of its ambitious transformation plan, the Tata Group-owned airline will continue to operate one flight daily on certain routes using wide-body aircraft, including the Boeing 777 and Airbus A350. This service will be available on the Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Bengaluru, and Delhi-Hyderabad routes, providing a luxury flying option for travelers.


Following the recent merger of full-service carrier Vistara with Air India earlier this month, the airline is leveraging Vistara’s well-regarded A320 series planes for select flights. To differentiate these flights, they will carry the prefix 'AI2' in their flight numbers.


In a statement, Air India revealed that the A320 planes will operate in a three-class configuration — business, premium economy, and economy — offering passengers more choices. Across the five metro routes, Air India will provide over 1,000 weekly flights and offer 35,000 premium seats, which include business and premium economy classes, every week.


Key route frequencies include



  • Delhi-Mumbai: 56 flights daily

  • Delhi-Bengaluru: 36 flights daily

  • Delhi-Hyderabad: 24 flights daily

  • Mumbai-Bengaluru: 22 flights daily

  • Mumbai-Hyderabad: 18 flights daily


The airline highlighted that flight schedules have been optimised to ensure departures are spread throughout the day without reducing overall frequency.


“The merger of Vistara into Air India has unlocked new opportunities to enhance our customer offering. By combining the strengths of both full-service carriers, we can now deliver our best narrow-body product on routes where there is demand for high-frequency, full-service travel,” said Campbell Wilson, CEO and MD of Air India.


The carrier, which currently operates a fleet of 208 aircraft, including 67 wide-body planes, plans to extend this strategy to more routes as it inducts new planes and completes retrofitting its older narrow-body fleet by 2025.