Air India plane crash: Over 1,000 Dreamliners in the skies — how many are with Tata Group airline and IndiGo?

Air India plane crash: Tata Group-owned Air India's Boeing 787 Dreamliner went down on Thursday near Ahmedabad airport shortly after takeoff. The tragic crash, which claimed the lives of 241 passengers on board, was the first time that the wide-body jet suffered a fatal accident.

There are 1,148 Boeing 787 variants currently in service.

Air India and IndiGo are the two Indian airlines operating the B787 planes. As of 2025, Air India operates 34 Boeing 787 aircraft in its fleet.

Budget airline IndiGo has six wide-body aircraft on damp lease from Norse Atlantic, including two added under an agreement signed in May 2025, reported Reuters.

AI-171 Dreamliner

The Boeing 787-8 aircraft that plunged into a deadly crash in Gujarat's Ahmedabad was 11.5 years old and had flown for more than 41,000 hours, reported PTI, citing aviation analytics firm Cirium.

It was delivered to Air India on January 28, 2014.

"The aircraft had 18 business class seats and 238 economy class seats. It had more than 41,000 hours of flying time, and almost 8,000 takeoffs and landings, including some 700 cycles in the past 12 months. This is average for that aircraft build year/period," stated Cirium.

Air India's Dreamliner fleet

Of the 34 Boeing 787s in Air India’s fleet, 27 are older B787-8 aircraft. The first of these legacy jets is scheduled for retrofit in July. The remaining seven, newer B787-9s, were added to the fleet following last year’s merger with Vistara.

Air India faced issues with its Dreamliner fleet back in 2013 due to battery malfunctions. The problems led the then government-owned airline to temporarily ground its six Boeing 787 aircraft. Boeing later compensated Air India for the disruptions caused by the technical faults.

How is the Dreamliner different from other jets?

Designed for long-haul air travel, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner was first introduced into commercial service in 2011 by Japan's All Nippon Airways.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner comes in three variants, each tailored for different passenger capacities and flight ranges:

787-8: Can carry up to 248 passengers and offers a range of 13,530 km.

787-9: Accommodates up to 296 passengers with a longer range of 14,010 km.

787-10: The largest of the trio, carrying up to 330 passengers, with a range of 11,910 km.

As per Boeing, the 787 Dreamliner stands out for its lightweight body, quieter take-offs and landings.