Air India has been moving fast trying to get everything sorted to rapidly get firing on all cylinders. The airline is working to complete the merger with other TATA brand Vistara and at the same time rebuilding its fleet, brand identity and expanding its network. Regarding the network expansion the airline just recently announced it would be upgrading its New York services with the state-of-the-art Airbus A350-900s. Now Air India is ready to start non-stop flights from one of its secondary hubs, Bengaluru, to London Gatwick.
About AI177 The New Bengaluru to London Gatwick Air India Service
Air India’s newest flight from Bengaluru, the country’s tech capital, to London’s second busiest airport will takeoff for the first time on August 18th 2024. A new flight to serve both business travellers and the expat community present in the UK. A flight which is extremely convenient as it offers the possibility of flying from London to Bengaluru with no stopovers in between.
From August 18th onwards there will be 5 weekly frequencies for flight AI177, which stack on top of the other flights the carrier operates from Gatwick. Flights will be available every:
- Monday
- Wednesday
- Thursday
- Friday
- Sunday
As for the timing, here’s how AI177 will fly the Bengaluru London Gatwick flight:
Flight Number | Departure Airport | Airport Code | Departure Time | Arrival Airport | Airport Code | Arrival Time | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AI177 | Bengaluru | BLR | 13:05 | London Gatwick | LGW | 19:05 | |
AI178 | London Gatwick | LGW | 20:35 | Bengaluru | BLR | 10:50+1 |
Unfortunately, No A350 For the New AI177 Flight
Unfortunately, passengers on this new route won’t get to experience the new Airbus A350s. The airline still possesses too few of the aircraft type and therefore, must prioritise using them on route where it makes more economic sense. For instance, London Gatwick often has more leisure and VFR passengers, while Heathrow is more associated with business travellers too. Hence the airline deploying the new jets on LHR before Gatwick.
The plane for the Bengaluru to London Gatwick Air India flight AI177 is the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner featuring:
- 18 Business class seats in a 2-2-2 layout.
- 238 Economy class seats in a 3-3-3 layout.
No need to hide it this is not Air India’s best aircraft. The business class cabin has quite an old setup which doesn’t offer aisle access to passengers sitting near the windows. Unless you really like looking out of the window, like I do, I would avoid those seats on such a long flight.
The fact that this is quite a leisure-passenger-oriented route can be seen even in the exceptionally low proportion of business to economy class seats the Air India 787-8 offers. Economy class spans from doors 2 to the tail of the plane with its 3-3-3 layout which changes only the last row next to the windows where it becomes a 2-3-2. Those couple seats, if you are willing to put up with a little noise from the galley and toilets might be good for travelling with a companion. Therefore, you won’t need to ask a stranger to let you through every time you want to get up.
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