BabuSoge

India’s aviation market is expanding at a rapid pace and Air India is poised to capture this growing demand. Under the new ownership of Tatas, the airlines is working hard to improve its products and service. In an effort to modernize their aircraft fleet, Air India recently order more than 400 aircrafts. The newest type of aircraft among them was the Airbus A350. This is a new type of aircraft not only for Air India, but for the entire country. It’s an exciting time for Indian aviation and I got to try out the A350 in my recent trip from Chennai to Bengaluru. Here’s my views on the new aircraft and the state of Indian aviation in general.

A350 is a wide body aircraft produced by Airbus and can seat more than 300 passengers. The first impressions have been very positive. The new color scheme of Air India is very pleasing. The simple minimalistic design of the logo and the paint scheme is soothing to look at. The aircraft interior is very refreshing and the seats are comfortable. More on that later. Air India will be deploying these wide body aircrafts on their long haul to US, Europe and Australia. However, they are currently running it on domestic routes for the crew to get familiarized with the aircraft. If you get a chance, do try to travel on this aircraft. Its a great experience.

The flight from Chennai to Bangalore is very short, about 30 mins in the air and about 1 hour gate to gate. When I checked in at Chennai airport, it was very empty and I thought the flight will also be empty. But I was so wrong. The flight was fully sold out. I guess everyone wants to try out the new aircraft. Boarding began right on time and the crew were very freindly and cheerful. When the crew is cheerful, it makes the environment very positive. I went and sat in my seat, 27K (window seat!).

The economy seat is comfortable with adjustable headrest. There are individual air vents and lights. The leg space is decent (nothing to brag about). Surprisingly the infotainment was working!! Haha, in all seriousness, we have to wait and see if the infotainment continues to run after couple of years. Air India has a very bad reputation of broken infotainment. The screen was bright and operated smoothly. There is good collection of movies and tv shows (they had rocket boys!). Latest Hollywood movies like Ferrari, Oppenheimer and Barbie were also there and there were a few international language movies too! Pretty impressed with choice of movies and tv show options.

The flight takeoff was very smooth. As soon as we reached 10,000 ft., the crew started serving food/beverage. For such a short flight, I got a box of fruits. Oh, we are also given a snack box that contains a sandwich, a juice and a bottle of water. Pretty good for a 30 minute flight. The flight crew were very courteous to everyone and they were all very cheerful. You can feel the positive vibes and the excitement from the crew as well. Another place where Air India has improved. We climbed only till 25,000 ft and we had to start our descent. The crew did an amazing job of serving food and beverage and cleaning after the service in such a short time.

After landing, I requested the cabin crew if I could go talk to the pilots. They were very happy to chat with me and show me the cockpit. I was super excited, like a kid who got his favorite toy. Both pilots were very senior, captain was Mrs. Deepa and first officer was Mr. Vaibhav. They were explaining all the new automation tools available in the aircraft. Compared to the old cessnas that I fly, this definitly feels ultra modern. For security reasons, I wasn’t allowed to take any photos. I spend a good 15 minutes chatting with the pilots asking them about flight planning, weather, differences between aircraft types. Thank you to Air India crew for making this trip very memorable.