I recently flew Air India’s latest 787-9 Dreamliner in Business Class on the Mumbai–Frankfurt route, featuring the airline’s all-new bespoke cabin interiors. From the ground experience at Mumbai T2 to the onboard product, including the redesigned cabin, updated amenities, and meal service, here’s a detailed look at my end-to-end journey.
Booking
Flight: AI2027
Route: BOM – FRA
Flight Duration: ~9 hrs
Cabin & Seat: Business Class, 3K
Equipment: Boeing 787-9 (new design)
Month of Journey: Feb 2026
While I typically prefer using Aeroplan (Air Canada) Points for Star Alliance redemptions, I opted to redeem KrisFlyer (Singapore Airlines) miles for this booking.
Given that Aeroplan points are more valuable and consistently in demand for my travels, I chose to save them and proceed with KrisFlyer instead, at a cost of around 68,000 miles + 3,500 INR in taxes.
Let’s begin the review with the ground experience.
Lounge
I was given access to the Adani Lounge (West Wing) at Mumbai T2 International Departures. Having visited the international lounges at BOM multiple times, I must say that I’m not a fan of these Adani lounges in Mumbai.
While the seating is comfortable and well-designed, the food offering continues to disappoint.
For a lounge of this scale, there’s clear scope for improvement, especially in terms of variety, which is typically better at lounges in Bengaluru or Chennai.
During my ~45-minute stay, I noticed that items like fruits and juices were not refilled promptly, which was disappointing.
So I kept it light and decided to wait for a better meal onboard. Meanwhile, the Air India app notifications turned out to be quite useful.
Cabin
Air India’s new cabin design is impressive from every angle. It feels modern, clean, and thoughtfully executed.
One standout element is the ambient lighting, especially the lamp design, which looks beautiful when dimmed and adds a premium touch to the cabin atmosphere.
The seat itself is well-designed for both lounging and working. The table is wide, the height is just right, and it extends close enough to the seat, making it practical for some work during the flight.
Moreover, the sliding door wasn’t operational on my flight, which limited the overall sense of privacy. It could have offered a much better experience, similar to Qatar Airways’ Qsuite. Seems this feature may be enabled in the near future.
Amenities
Air India offered Forest Essentials kits on this flight, which is a welcome move. I’m glad they’ve moved away from the Ferragamo kits that were previously offered on international Business Class, such as on my CDG – DEL flight last year.
Back when Vistara operated long-haul flights, they also offered Forest Essentials kits, which I found excellent, especially the lip balm that I still use from my BOM – CDG journey.
I hope Air India continues with Forest Essentials going forward. That said, the moisturiser quantity could be more generous. Airlines like Qatar Airways, for instance, provide separate body and face lotions with slightly more quantity, which remain my personal favourite.
That aside, a refresh in pouch colour would also be a nice touch.
Food & Drinks
The service started with welcome drinks. I chose an apple mocktail, which was surprisingly good. The nuts were served warm, but they weren’t very crispy. Middle Eastern airlines still do a better job when it comes to serving crunchy nuts.
On this ~9-hour flight, two meals were served: a full main meal and a lighter refreshment about two hours before landing. I pre-selected Asian Vegetarian Meal for the flight. Here’s a quick look at the menu:
The three-course main meal was delicious, as you can see in the pictures below.
Even the refreshment felt like a proper meal, which you’ll notice below.
In general, I don’t expect great food on flights, but this one genuinely impressed me. Good food has always been one of Air India’s strengths, and this flight exceeded that expectation.
Wi-Fi & IFE
On my flight, the Wi-Fi was not functional. For a flight in 2026, the absence of Wi-Fi was disappointing. It was probably one of the longest duration I’ve been awake without being connected.
That said, the inflight entertainment system was good, with a premium-quality display, a decent screen size, and a good selection of content.
However, my seat had an audio issue, with sound coming through only one side of the headset.
The crew offered me another seat, which I gladly accepted and used for sleeping, so I essentially ended up with two seats. 😉
Sleep Quality
The fully flat bed was comfortable and worked well for a quick rest.
The cabin air quality also felt noticeably better than on most other aircraft that I flew in the last 2 years. On a quick research, I found that this is largely due to the 787’s design, which typically offers improved cabin pressure and humidity levels.
So the overall sleep quality was pretty good. However, ingress and egress could have been better, as the entry space into the seat felt slightly narrow and restrictive.
Bottom Line
Overall, the experience on Air India’s new 787-9 was a clear step forward and reflects the airline’s ongoing transformation. The comfortable seat, all-new interiors, and the delicious meals were all quite impressive.
Having first flown Air India’s international Business Class in 2018, I can clearly see how things have improved over time, and for the better.
In fact, on my return from Europe with Air France Business Class, I found the food and service underwhelming in comparison, which makes Air India’s improvements even more noticeable.
With continued consistency and more new aircraft like this, Air India is probably well on track to compete with leading international carriers.
