The Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has deregistered all four B747-400s formerly operated by Air India (AI, Delhi International) as the now privately-owned carrier seeks to roll over to a more efficient fleet, sources told the PTI news agency.

VT-ESO (msn 27165), VT-ESP (msn 27214), VT-EVA (ms 28094), and VT-EVB (msn 28095) were retired from commercial service in 2020 and 2021. Air India's last scheduled B747 flight was on March 10, 2021, when VT-EVA flew from Delhi International to Mumbai International as AI863. Since then, all four have been parked at Mumbai airport, although the airline denied plans to retire the type in 2021.

The Boeing quadjets had a dual role as passenger aircraft on Air India's scheduled network and as VIP transports for the government. At 26.9 years of age on average, the subfleet is by far the oldest in Air India's network. The ch-aviation fleets module shows that other widebody types operated by the airline are B777-200(LR)s (three units), B777-300(ER)s (thirteen), and B787-8s (twenty-seven).

Air India is currently undergoing restructuring under the ownership of Tata Sons.