I not too long ago flew Air India’s newest 787-9 Dreamliner in Enterprise Class on the Mumbai–Frankfurt route, that includes the airline’s all-new bespoke cabin interiors. From the bottom expertise at Mumbai T2 to the onboard product, together with the redesigned cabin, up to date facilities, and meal service, right here’s an in depth take a look at my end-to-end journey.
Reserving
- Flight: AI2027
- Route: BOM – FRA
- Flight Period: ~9 hrs
- Cabin & Seat: Enterprise Class, 3K
- Gear: Boeing 787-9 (new design)
- Month of Journey: Feb 2026
Whereas I sometimes want utilizing Aeroplan (Air Canada) Factors for Star Alliance redemptions, I opted to redeem KrisFlyer (Singapore Airways) miles for this reserving.
Provided that Aeroplan factors are extra priceless and persistently in demand for my travels, I selected to save lots of them and proceed with KrisFlyer as an alternative, at a value of round 68,000 miles + 3,500 INR in taxes.
Let’s start the evaluation with the bottom expertise.
Lounge
I used to be given entry to the Adani Lounge (West Wing) at Mumbai T2 Worldwide Departures. Having visited the worldwide lounges at BOM a number of instances, I have to say that I’m not a fan of those Adani lounges in Mumbai.
Whereas the seating is snug and well-designed, the meals providing continues to disappoint.
For a lounge of this scale, there’s clear scope for enchancment, particularly when it comes to selection, which is often higher at lounges in Bengaluru or Chennai.
Throughout my ~45-minute keep, I seen that gadgets like fruits and juices weren’t refilled promptly, which was disappointing.
So I stored it mild and determined to attend for a greater meal onboard. In the meantime, the Air India app notifications turned out to be fairly helpful.
Cabin
Air India’s new cabin design is spectacular from each angle. It feels trendy, clear, and thoughtfully executed.
One standout component is the ambient lighting, particularly the lamp design, which appears lovely when dimmed and provides a premium contact to the cabin ambiance.
The seat itself is well-designed for each lounging and dealing. The desk is huge, the peak is excellent, and it extends shut sufficient to the seat, making it sensible for some work throughout the flight.
Furthermore, the sliding door wasn’t operational on my flight, which restricted the general sense of privateness. It may have provided a a lot better expertise, just like Qatar Airways’ Qsuite. Appears this characteristic could also be enabled within the close to future.
Facilities
Air India provided Forest Necessities kits on this flight, which is a welcome transfer. I’m glad they’ve moved away from the Ferragamo kits that had been beforehand provided on worldwide Enterprise Class, akin to on my CDG – DEL flight final 12 months.
Again when Vistara operated long-haul flights, additionally they provided Forest Necessities kits, which I discovered glorious, particularly the lip balm that I nonetheless use from my BOM – CDG journey.
I hope Air India continues with Forest Necessities going ahead. That stated, the moisturiser amount could possibly be extra beneficiant. Airways like Qatar Airways, as an example, present separate physique and face lotions with barely extra amount, which stay my private favorite.
That apart, a refresh in pouch color would even be a pleasant contact.
Meals & Drinks
The service began with welcome drinks. I selected an apple mocktail, which was surprisingly good. The nuts had been served heat, however they weren’t very crispy. Center Jap airways nonetheless do a greater job in terms of serving crunchy nuts.
On this ~9-hour flight, two meals had been served: a full important meal and a lighter refreshment about two hours earlier than touchdown. I pre-selected Asian Vegetarian Meal for the flight. Right here’s a fast take a look at the menu:
The three-course important meal was scrumptious, as you possibly can see within the photos beneath.
Even the refreshment felt like a correct meal, which you’ll discover beneath.
Normally, I don’t count on nice meals on flights, however this one genuinely impressed me. Good meals has at all times been considered one of Air India’s strengths, and this flight exceeded that expectation.
Wi-Fi & IFE
On my flight, the Wi-Fi was not purposeful. For a flight in 2026, the absence of Wi-Fi was disappointing. It was most likely one of many longest length I’ve been awake with out being linked.
That stated, the inflight leisure system was good, with a premium-quality show, a good display dimension, and a wide variety of content material.
Nonetheless, my seat had an audio difficulty, with sound coming via just one facet of the headset.
The crew provided me one other seat, which I gladly accepted and used for sleeping, so I basically ended up with two seats. 😉
Sleep High quality
The totally flat mattress was snug and labored properly for a fast relaxation.
The cabin air high quality additionally felt noticeably higher than on most different plane that I flew within the final 2 years. On a fast analysis, I discovered that that is largely because of the 787’s design, which generally presents improved cabin stress and humidity ranges.
So the general sleep high quality was fairly good. Nonetheless, ingress and egress may have been higher, because the entry area into the seat felt barely slender and restrictive.
Backside Line
Total, the expertise on Air India’s new 787-9 was a transparent step ahead and displays the airline’s ongoing transformation. The snug seat, all-new interiors, and the scrumptious meals had been all fairly spectacular.
Having first flown Air India’s worldwide Enterprise Class in 2018, I can clearly see how issues have improved over time, and for the higher.
In truth, on my return from Europe with Air France Enterprise Class, I discovered the meals and repair underwhelming compared, which makes Air India’s enhancements much more noticeable.
With continued consistency and extra new plane like this, Air India might be properly on monitor to compete with main worldwide carriers.