Air India signs 10-year IFE maintenance pact with Thales to support fleet modernisation

New Delhi, April 20. Air India has entered into a decade-long services agreement with French aerospace and electronics major Thales for comprehensive maintenance of its inflight entertainment (IFE) systems across 57 Airbus and Boeing aircraft.

According to a press statement issued by Thales, the contract brings Air India under Thales’s FlytCARE services programme, a turnkey maintenance package that includes line maintenance, spares provisioning, repairs and end-to-end logistics management for the airline’s IFE equipment. The support will be delivered from Thales facilities located at Delhi and Mumbai airports, enabling faster turnaround and closer operational support as the airline advances its customer-focused fleet modernisation plans.

The agreement also covers Air India’s 12 new widebody aircraft fitted with Thales’s latest AVANT UP inflight entertainment system. Air India is the first carrier in the Asia-Pacific region to operate the AVANT UP solution, which offers passengers a 4K HDR touchscreen interface, an extensive content library, 60W USB-C and USB-A fast charging ports, and the option to pair two Bluetooth devices simultaneously.

Air India said ensuring high reliability and uptime of IFE systems is central to delivering a premium onboard experience.

Jeremy Yew, Senior Vice President (Engineering & Maintenance) at Air India, said the FlytCARE partnership would strengthen the airline’s engineering ecosystem by enabling faster servicing, deeper technical support and improved component availability, aligning with its broader fleet modernisation and engineering excellence goals.

Thomas Got, Vice President, Aviation Global Services, at Thales, said the long-term contract reflected Air India’s trust in the company’s service capabilities and would further deepen the longstanding relationship between the two firms as the airline upgrades its passenger entertainment offerings.