Air India to stop flights to Washington DC from Sept. 1 over planned retrofit

Air India will stop its flights to Washington DC from September 1, 2025 due to shortage of aircraft as it undertakes retrofitment of its legacy widebody aircraft starting with Boeing 787-8s.

Last month, the airline sent first of its 26 Boeing 787-8 aircraft which will be unavailable for flying till December 2025. Multiple aircraft will remain unavailable over a prolonged period until at least the end of 2026, according to a statement from Air India.

The retrofitment of the 787s is expected to conclude by June 2027.

The airline will continue to fly to other four U.S. destinations – New York, Newark, Chicago and San Francisco. Last week, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson announced in a townhall that the retrofitment of the legacy Boeing 777 aircraft is once again delayed till mid-2027, three years behind the initial schedule of mid-2024. The retrofit for Boeing 777 is now likely to conclude by October 2028 as per the latest timeline.

After taking the delivery of 6 A350s, the next widebody delivery of a new aircraft a Boeing 787 is expected by the end of 2025. The 7th A350 is expected to join Air India only in the third quarter of financial year 2026.