The Hindu Business Line : End of a decade-long wait for Air India

AFTER a gap of close to a decade, Air India (AI) has finally moved closer to acquiring 50 brand new Boeing aircraft including the soon to be launched Dreamliner — the Boeing 787.

The AI board that met in Mumbai today cleared a proposal to acquire eight Boeing 777-200 Long Range (LR), 15 Boeing 777-300 Extended Range (ER) and 27 Boeing 787 aircraft.

The latest acquisition programme of the airline has seen many ups and downs and been ongoing for the past few years. Earlier, on November 11, 2003, the airline board had recommended to the Ministry of Civil Aviation that AI acquire 28 aircraft including 10 Airbus A-340-300 to meet its long-range requirements and 18 Boeing 737-800 to meet its short-range requirements.

While the former were to be deployed on routes between India and the US, the UK and Saudi Arabia, the Boeing aircraft were to be deployed on routes between India and the Gulf, Africa and South East Asia. The cost of the acquisition had then been pegged at Rs 10,000 crore.

However, the acquisition proposal hardly progressed and keeping in mind the changing market dynamics that saw competing airlines offer non-stop services between countries in the region and the US, AI in December last year invited fresh tenders from the aircraft manufacturers.

In the recent past, the issue of sale of aircraft purchase to AI has also been broached at the official level by Government functionaries of both the European Union and the US.

Earlier this month, the visiting US Transportation Secretary, Mr Norman Minetta, hoped that the Indian Government would give a fair consideration to the offer tendered by Boeing. Similarly, the French Transport Minister also spoke on various aspects including the safety of Airbus aircraft at an official meeting with the Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel, here a day ahead of the AI board meeting.

The aircraft that AI now plans to acquire will not only help the airline start non-stop services between India and the US but also provide an upgraded product to passengers travelling to other global destinations covered by the airline.

The 777-300 ER that AI plans to acquire can carry 365 passengers up to 7,420 nautical miles or 13,742 kilometres while the 777-200 LR can carry 301 passengers up to 9,170 nautical miles or 16,983 kilometres.

Similarly, the Dreamliner, is offered in three versions — the baseline airplane which can carry 200 passengers up to a range of 7,500 nautical miles, the stretch version which can carry 250 passengers up to a range of 8,300 nautical miles and the shorter-range version which can carry 300 passengers in two class configuration up to a range of about 3,500 nautical miles.

In effect this means that AI would be able to fly non-stop with the Boeing 777-200 LR from anywhere in India to San Francisco, New York and Chicago among other cities, while the Boeing 777-300 ER offers an opportunity for the airline to fly non-stop from India to either London or Tokyo.

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