The delivery of the first medium-haul Boeing 787 Dreamliner to Air India has been delayed by another two months to December.
“We have been informed that the first two 787s, which were to be delivered in October, will come in December because of delays in receiving clearances from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The aircraft will be a great boon for us in the medium-haul routes and we will start with our service to Singapore,” said a senior Air India official, requesting anonymity.
The arrival of Dreamliners is crucial to Air India's turnaround since it does not have medium-haul aircraft in its fleet. “We are operating the medium-haul sectors with Boeing 777s, which is a big plane and requires load factors in the range of 90s to make the route profitable,” said the official.
He said the projections are that medium-haul international routes will be the future markets for Air India. “But even then, the airline does not have a fleet of medium haul aircraft and we are facing losses.”
Once AI gets delivery of all 787s it has ordered, it plans to reopen lucrative sectors and augment services to key markets such as Malaysia, Hong Kong, Osaka, Jakarta, Dubai and Frankfurt.
Meanwhile, negotiations are on with Boeing for compensation on the almost three-year delay in delivery. “Our revenue loss estimates for the delay in delivery of 737s is about Rs 6,000 crore and stiff negotiations are on.”
The carrier is also starting its domestic low-cost carrier service under Alliance Air and has applied for approvals for the same to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. “We plan to launch the low-cost services during the winters. Our strategy would be to cater to the feeder traffic from smaller cities,” the official said.
More From This Section
This service will be in addition to the AI Express low-cost service, which currently operates primarily in the West Asia and Southeast Asian sectors.
To run the low-cost service, Air India will depute its own pilots to Alliance Air to fly the Airbus A320. According to estimates, the airline would require at least 70 sets of commanders and co-pilots.
Meanwhile the airline management said that the Air India employees have got their salaries and productivity-linked incentive (PLI) for one month. “With this payment, PLI for two months and salaries for one month are still due and we will pay it as and when we get the money.”