Air India to Lease Six More Wide-body Aircraft to Ramp up International Capacity
Dec. 6—NEW DELHI — Air India will lease six more wide-body aircraft in the first half of 2023 to meet its near-term capacity requirements.
In September, the airline had announced the induction of five wide-body aircraft on lease as it refurbishes its old fleet which and finalises an order of new airplanes.
"Growing our network is an essential part of Air India's Vihaan.AI transformational journey and we remain committed to increasing connectivity and frequency of flights both domestically and internationally. These additional aircraft leases will support our near term growth even as we finalise plans to refresh and significantly grow our long-term fleet," chief executive and managing director Campbell Wilson said.
The induction of additional six aircraft will help the airline boost connectivity on domestic and international routes, Air India said.
Air India's B777-300 ER will have four-class configuration of first, business, premium economy and economy, and will be deployed to connect Indian metros with more international destinations.
Air India has a fleet size of 113 aircraft of which 87 planes were operational as of September. These included 54 narrow-body airplanes and 33 wide-body aircraft. The inoperative 16 narrow-body aircraft and 10 wide-body aircraft are expected to return to service by early 2023.
With an ageing fleet, the airline has to refurbish planes consistently. As on date, the airline has to refurbish nine more aircraft which are grounded and 19 aircraft which were previously grounded have returned to the skies.
In September, Air India had announced its first major fleet expansion plan since its acquisition by the Tata Group in January 2022. It had announced plans to induct 30 aircraft in its fleet by 2023 as it eyed expansion and fleet revamp. The new aircraft were set to enter the airline's fleet from late 2022 and were set to increase the airline's fleet size by 25%. This included 21 Airbus A320neos, 4 Airbus A321neos and 5 Boeing B777-200LRs.
The wide-body B777-200LRs will join the fleet between December 2022 and March 2023. The four A321 aircraft are expected to join the Air India fleet in the first quarter of 2023, while the 21 A320 will be inducted in the second half of 2023.
With the latest announcement, the fleet size of Air India will increase to 149 from 113 currently. IndiGo is the largest airline in India with a fleet size of over 280 airplanes.
___
(c)2022 the Mint (New Delhi)
Visit the Mint (New Delhi) at www.livemint.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.