Air India Returns to Osaka: Delhi–Kansai Business on Points

Updated as of 16 Oct 2026. Schedule and aircraft from Air India’s press release of 15 Oct 2026. Cash fares, Maharaja Club and Miles & More award prices from DealUni searches on 16 Oct 2026, for 2 Mar 2027 out and 8 Mar 2027 back. Partner award prices are from the programmes’ charts.

Air India is going back to Osaka. From 2 February 2027 it will fly Delhi to Osaka (Kansai) nonstop, four times a week, on a Boeing 787-8. It’s the only nonstop on the route, and it gives Indian travellers a second Japan gateway after Tokyo Haneda. For anyone planning Kyoto, Nara or Osaka itself, that means no more connecting in Tokyo, Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur.

The schedule

Flight	Route	Days	Departs	Arrives
AI360	Delhi → Osaka	Tue, Thu, Sat, Sun	22:50	09:50 next day
AI359	Osaka → Delhi	Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun	11:50	18:20

The timings work well: an overnight flight out, landing in Osaka in the morning, and a daytime flight home that gets you into Delhi in time for an evening connection. Air India says tickets are being rolled out across its website, app and travel agents. The flights are now on sale: AI360 is 7h 30m out, and AI359 is 10h back.

Flying business on points

Air India is in Star Alliance, so you can book this flight with Air India’s own Maharaja Club points or with partner programmes. Here’s where each stands:

Programme	Business, one way	Best Indian card route	Notes
Air Canada Aeroplan	75,000 (expected)	Axis Magnus for Burgundy 5:4; Marriott 3:1	Delhi–Osaka is 3,403 miles, shorter than Delhi–Tokyo, which prices at 75,000. Plus taxes and the CA$39 booking fee
Air India Maharaja Club	90,000 (economy 30,000)	Axis Atlas 1:2; Magnus for Burgundy 5:4	Seen on 2 Mar 2027 with 2 business seats left; economy showed ₹3,782 in taxes. Cheapest levels open up to 30 days before departure
Lufthansa Miles & More	37,500 (economy 21,000)	Axis Magnus for Burgundy 5:4; Olympus	Confirmed in our search, plus ₹14,398 in taxes from Delhi. But the Air India nonstop isn’t bookable on Miles & More yet; the seats shown were one-stop on EVA Air via Taipei and ANA via Tokyo
Avianca LifeMiles	Varies	No Indian card; buy miles in a sale	No published chart, but no fuel surcharges on Star Alliance partners

The catch is space. A 787-8 has only 18 business seats, flying four times a week. Partner programmes usually see one or two of them on an award, if any. Air India tends to release more seats to its own members: on our test date Maharaja Club showed two business award seats, so it’s the reliable route, even though it costs the most points.

Points vs cash

Here’s what the launch prices look like for one person, Delhi out on Tuesday 2 March 2027 and back on Monday 8 March:

One way	Cash	Maharaja Club award	Value per point
Economy, Delhi→Osaka	₹33,784	30,000 + ₹3,782	₹1.00
Business, Delhi→Osaka	₹1,07,867	90,000 + taxes	About ₹1.16
Business, Osaka→Delhi	₹1,04,616	—	—

So a business return is about ₹2.1 lakh in cash, a little above ANA’s recent ₹1.9 lakh sale to Tokyo (see our ANA Hello Blue post). Here’s what each points route costs for the same one-way business seat:

Route	Points	From Axis Magnus for Burgundy	Verdict
Miles & More (one stop, EVA or ANA)	37,500 + ₹14,398	46,875 EDGE	✅ By far the cheapest, if you can live with a stop
Aeroplan (expected)	75,000	93,750 EDGE	⚠️ Fair; needs partner space
Maharaja Club	90,000	1,12,500 EDGE (or 45,000 on Atlas)	⚠️ Easiest to find, but only about ₹1.16 a point

Our call: Maharaja Club economy at 30,000 is a fair use of points, about ₹1 each, and seats look easy to get. For business, 90,000 points to save ₹1.04 lakh is only an average deal. The best points deal right now isn’t the nonstop at all: Miles & More sells business to Osaka for 37,500 miles plus ₹14,398 on EVA Air via Taipei or ANA via Tokyo, less than half the points. You give up the nonstop (10h 30m via Taipei instead of 7h 30m) but get a very good business seat. Coming home, the same awards from Osaka carried about ¥44,000 in taxes and surcharges, so check the return leg before you transfer. Economy is 21,000 miles plus ₹13,121 from Delhi, not much better than Maharaja Club’s 30,000 plus ₹3,782.

Miles & More is also the easier currency to collect. Since 23 September, Axis has put Air India in its Group A, with tight yearly transfer caps: on Atlas, just 30,000 EDGE Miles a year, which makes 60,000 Maharaja Club points, not even one business seat to Osaka. Miles & More sits in Group B, where Atlas allows 1,20,000 EDGE Miles a year, and Axis lets you move up to 2,00,000 Miles & More miles a year in total (2,50,000 EDGE points on Magnus for Burgundy at 5:4). That’s enough for five one-way business seats at 37,500, every year. See the ratios for every Axis card in our Axis Miles & More post.

Use it for an open-jaw Japan trip

Air India now flies to both Osaka and Tokyo Haneda (daily from Delhi, four times a week from Mumbai), and it says open-jaw trips are possible. Fly into Osaka, see Kyoto and Nara, take the bullet train to Tokyo, and fly home from Haneda, with no backtracking. On points, just book two one-way awards.

You are…	Do this
Planning Japan for cherry blossoms 2027 (late Mar–early Apr)	✅ Watch for award seats now; with 18 business seats they’ll go fast
Holding Axis Magnus for Burgundy or Atlas points	✅ Keep them liquid; don’t transfer until you see a seat
Flying from Mumbai, Bengaluru or Chennai	⚠️ You’ll connect in Delhi; compare with Tokyo or via Kuala Lumpur
Paying cash for business	⚠️ ₹1.05–1.08 lakh each way at launch; compare with ANA via Tokyo before booking

Connecting from elsewhere in India? See how Malaysia Airlines gets you to Osaka in one stop from 10 cities in our Japan via Kuala Lumpur guide.

DealUni take: good news for Japan trips. The schedule is smart and the open-jaw with Tokyo is the real win. On points, Miles & More at 37,500 via Taipei or Tokyo is the bargain; for the nonstop itself, Maharaja Club at 90,000 is the route that actually has seats. We’ll check whether Miles & More and Aeroplan start showing the nonstop.

Ab Kyoto ke liye Tokyo ghoomne ki zaroorat nahi. (No more going via Tokyo to reach Kyoto.)