Air India is turning its sights to the Northern Summer 2026 season with a sharper focus on premium cabins, upgraded interiors, and added capacity on marquee long-haul routes. Building on a multiyear transformation plan and earlier schedule expansions to the United Kingdom, Australia, and North America, the Tata Group airline is preparing to showcase a more upmarket product, anchored by its growing Premium Economy cabin and a new generation of widebody aircraft set to serve London, Melbourne, and several other key global gateways.
Summer 2026: A Pivotal Season in Air India’s Transformation
The Northern Summer of 2026 is shaping up as a pivotal chapter in Air India’s reinvention as a modern global carrier. Following successive schedule boosts in 2024 and 2025, including additional frequencies to London Heathrow and expanded domestic routes with Premium Economy, the airline is now aligning aircraft deployment, cabin retrofits, and network strategy ahead of the peak travel months next year.
Executives familiar with the planning say the focus for Summer 2026 is twofold: maintaining high-capacity connectivity on trunk routes while ensuring that a growing proportion of those flights operate with fully upgraded interiors. In practice, that means more A350s and refurbished Boeing 777s and 787s on the busiest city pairs, including Delhi and Mumbai to London, and Mumbai and Delhi to Melbourne, with Premium Economy available on a larger share of services.
The preparations follow Air India’s earlier moves to increase weekly flights to London and other European hubs from March 2025 and to add a fourth daily Delhi–London Heathrow rotation from October 2025, solidifying its position as the largest carrier between India and the United Kingdom by seat count. Those capacity gains are expected to roll into the Summer 2026 timetable, now enhanced by more consistent premium product standards across the fleet.
In the background is a broader competitive shift in global aviation. With rival full-service airlines intensifying their own premium offerings, Air India’s summer 2026 plans are designed not just to meet demand, but to reposition the airline as a credible alternative for long-haul travellers seeking comfort and value beyond standard economy.
Premium Economy Moves to Centre Stage
Once a niche product on a handful of routes, Premium Economy is becoming central to Air India’s customer strategy. On international sectors, the cabin bridges the gap between economy and business class, targeting travellers willing to pay extra for space, comfort, and priority services without the price tag of a lie-flat seat. The airline has already highlighted strong uptake of the product on North America routes and is preparing to mirror that success on flights to Europe and Australia next summer.
On long-haul A350s serving destinations such as New York, and on three-class Boeing 777s flying to San Francisco, Premium Economy features wider seats with extra legroom in a dedicated cabin, often laid out in a 2-4-2 configuration. Summer 2026 plans point to a broader deployment of similarly configured aircraft on the London and Melbourne corridors, aligning product consistency across key markets. For passengers connecting via Delhi or Mumbai, that should mean a seamless premium experience from one long-haul leg to the next.
Domestically, Air India has already deepened its Premium Economy footprint, offering the cabin on dozens of metro routes and running periodic promotions that price upgrades only modestly above standard economy. That strategy has helped familiarize Indian travellers with the intermediate cabin and primed demand for longer flights. As those passengers look outward to London, Melbourne, Toronto, or Tokyo in 2026, the airline is betting many will choose to remain in the same cabin type for their onward journeys.
Industry analysts note that while Premium Economy remains a relatively small share of total seats, it punches above its weight in terms of revenue contribution and brand perception. By investing early in the segment and making it a visible feature of its summer schedule, Air India is signalling that it intends to compete head-on with established global carriers offering similar products.
New and Refitted Cabins: A Consistent “New Air India” Experience
A key pillar of Air India’s Summer 2026 offering is the rapid rollout of new or thoroughly refitted cabins across its widebody fleet. The airline has already introduced its flagship A350-900 on high-profile routes, complete with the latest seats, inflight entertainment, and a modern three-class layout including Premium Economy. That aircraft type will play a central role in the Summer 2026 schedule, particularly on longer sectors where passenger comfort is crucial.
Parallel to A350 deliveries, legacy Boeing 777 and 787 aircraft are undergoing interior upgrades to bring them in line with the new standards. These refurbished jets feature updated business class seats, refreshed economy cabins, and, on selected aircraft, a fully integrated Premium Economy section. For routes such as Delhi–London and Mumbai–London, Air India has already committed to deploying only aircraft with new or upgraded interiors, a policy expected to carry through to Summer 2026.
The upgrade drive also extends to narrowbody aircraft operating shorter regional and domestic links that feed the long-haul network. A tranche of A320-family jets has been retrofitted with a three-class layout, adding Premium Economy into the mix on high-demand intra-India and near-international sectors. That should give connecting passengers a consistent experience before they even board their long-haul flight to London, Melbourne, or beyond.
In addition to hardware changes, the airline is refining its soft product. Revamped menus, upgraded tableware in premium cabins, and an expanded digital entertainment library delivered via seatback screens or wireless streaming are all part of the “new Air India” experience. For Summer 2026, the intention is to align these elements so that travellers encounter similar quality standards regardless of the route or aircraft type they fly.
More Seats to London: Strengthening the UK Bridge
London remains one of Air India’s most important overseas markets, both for point-to-point traffic and as a gateway for onward connections to Europe and North America. The airline has progressively bolstered its United Kingdom footprint over the past two years, moving to increase Delhi–London Heathrow frequencies to four daily flights in Winter 2025 and adjusting services from other Indian cities such as Amritsar and Ahmedabad.
By the time the Northern Summer 2026 schedule takes effect, these additions are expected to crystallize into a high-frequency, high-capacity bridge between India and the UK, with up to 28 weekly Delhi–Heathrow services complemented by flights from other Indian gateways. Crucially, the airline has committed to operating the Delhi–Heathrow route entirely with new-generation A350 and upgraded 787-9 aircraft, ensuring that every flight offers the latest cabin features and Premium Economy options.
For travellers, that translates into more choice of departure times as well as greater availability of premium seats during the busy summer peak. Business and leisure demand between India and the UK traditionally surges between late March and October, driven by school holidays, diaspora travel, and tourism. With Summer 2026 set to follow that pattern, Air India is banking on its improved onboard product to win a larger share of these passengers from competitors via the Gulf and Europe.
The London enhancements dovetail with Air India’s broader European strategy, which has recently included increased frequencies to Zurich and Vienna and upgraded equipment to cities such as Seoul and Hong Kong. While London stands out in sheer scale, the airline’s network planners view it as part of a wider push to make Indian hubs a more attractive option for travellers moving between Europe, North America, and Australasia.
Melbourne and the Australia Push
On the other side of the globe, Melbourne is emerging as a cornerstone of Air India’s Australia strategy. The airline already operates non-stop Mumbai–Melbourne flights, introduced in late 2023 as the first direct link between the two cities and currently the only non-stop connection between Mumbai and Australia. Those services sit alongside daily Delhi–Melbourne and Delhi–Sydney operations, giving Air India a total of multiple weekly rotations between India and Australia.
By Summer 2026, Air India plans to strengthen its presence in the Australia market further, with Melbourne at the heart of that expansion. Additional frequencies are under consideration for the Mumbai–Melbourne sector, timed to capture connecting traffic from London and other European origins as well as from North America. For travellers in the United Kingdom, this creates a compelling one-stop option to reach Melbourne via Delhi or Mumbai on a single carrier, with Premium Economy or upgraded cabins available across both legs.
Australia’s large and growing Indian diaspora, concentrated in cities such as Melbourne and Sydney, is a significant demand driver. The airline’s earlier announcement that the Mumbai–Melbourne route would add tens of thousands of seats per year into the state of Victoria underscores the scale of the opportunity. With tourism flows also rebounding and business links deepening, Summer 2026 is expected to see particularly strong India–Australia traffic, and Air India is positioning itself accordingly.
As with its UK strategy, Air India’s plans for Melbourne and wider Australia are closely tied to the deployment of more modern aircraft. The carrier aims to ensure that, as retrofits progress, a greater share of India–Australia services are operated with refurbished cabins that offer consistent comfort levels, including Premium Economy as the intermediate option of choice for long overnight sectors.
Beyond the Big Hubs: Tokyo, Toronto, Seoul, and Shanghai
While London and Melbourne headline Air India’s Summer 2026 ambitions, the airline is also preparing to bolster services to a set of other strategically important cities. Planes with upgraded or newly refitted cabins are being lined up for routes to Tokyo, Toronto, Seoul, and Shanghai, reflecting both strong point-to-point demand and the role these cities play as onward gateways to broader regional markets.
In East Asia, enhanced services to Seoul and Shanghai are expected to align with India’s growing trade and tourism ties with South Korea and China, as well as provide convenient connections to secondary cities through partner and interline arrangements. Deploying newer 787s or retrofitted aircraft with updated interiors on these routes allows Air India to pitch a more competitive product to travellers weighing various options in the region’s crowded marketplace.
On the transpacific and transatlantic fronts, Toronto continues to be a key destination, particularly for the large Indian diaspora in Canada. With Premium Economy already proving popular on long North America routes, Air India is likely to highlight the cabin’s comfort and service advantages on select Summer 2026 departures to Canada, mirroring the strategy it has adopted for flights to San Francisco and New York.
Tokyo benefits from its dual role as a business centre and leisure hub. For Summer 2026, the airline’s move to operate routes such as Delhi–Tokyo with aircraft featuring the latest cabins is part of a broader effort to tap into rising India–Japan travel demand, especially among corporate travellers and high-spending tourists who are sensitive to seat comfort and onboard amenities.
What Travellers Can Expect Onboard Next Summer
For passengers looking ahead to trips in mid-2026, Air India’s network and product plans translate into a markedly different inflight experience compared to just a few years ago. On London and Melbourne routes, as well as on many flights to other long-haul destinations, Premium Economy will be more widely available, and the likelihood of flying on an aircraft with older interiors will be substantially reduced.
Typical Premium Economy perks on Air India include wider seats with greater pitch and recline than standard economy, a quieter and more intimate cabin with fewer rows, enhanced dining with upgraded presentation, and added ground benefits such as priority check-in, boarding, and baggage handling. On some long-haul flights, the airline is also promoting complimentary or enhanced inflight connectivity and expanded entertainment options as part of the elevated experience.
Business class customers will see the benefits of the refurbishment drive in the form of updated lie-flat seats, privacy features, and refreshed cabin styling on a growing number of routes. In economy, newly installed seats and improved entertainment systems should make even the back of the plane more comfortable on long journeys, especially on redeye services to Europe and Australia.
Although precise details of the final Northern Summer 2026 schedule have yet to be published, Air India’s recent announcements and fleet moves provide a clear guide to what is coming. For travellers weighing their options to London, Melbourne, and a host of other global cities, the airline is signalling that next summer will be the moment when its transformation becomes visible not just in branding and promises, but in the seats, cabins, and service they experience from take-off to landing.