Air India’s Manila route gets bigger plane as rivals eye entry

Air India’s Delhi-Manila route is getting a bigger aircraft, with the airline set to deploy a 256-seat Boeing 787 Dreamliner from October 25, 2026, in place of the current 188-seat Airbus A321.

The daily service has grown steadily since it launched in October 2025 with just five weekly flights, a ramp-up that reflects sustained travel demand between the two countries.

Load factors on the Manila-Delhi sector have twice touched the low 80s, according to aviation analyst Ameya Joshi, a figure that helps explain Air India’s decision to add capacity now.

The move comes as competition builds on the route, with IndiGo applying for Philippine regulatory approval to begin its own flights to Manila and Cebu.

Philippine Airlines is separately preparing to launch Delhi and Mumbai services during the winter schedule, drawing on a bilateral agreement that permits up to 28 weekly flights between the two countries’ key cities.

Indian arrivals in the Philippines rose 43% year-on-year in the first half of 2026, with visa-free travel access for Indian passport holders cited as a major factor behind the growth.

Indian arrivals in the Philippines rose 43% year-on-year in the first half of 2026, with more than 60,000 Indian travellers visiting the country in that period alone.

Visa-free access for Indian passport holders travelling to the Philippines has been cited by industry watchers as a key driver behind the surge in leisure and business travel between the two countries.

India and the Philippines elevated their bilateral relationship to a strategic partnership in 2025, a diplomatic shift that has coincided with expanded airline interest in connecting the two markets.

IndiGo, which already dominates India’s domestic skies with roughly two-thirds market share, has been steadily building out its international network beyond South Asia and the Gulf in recent quarters.

The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner that Air India will deploy on the upgraded Manila service is a twin-aisle, twin-class aircraft commonly used on the airline’s long-haul international routes.

Photo by Steve Knight, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0