State-run carrier Air India on Friday took possession of its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner in the US.
The 256-seater aircraft will touch down at Terminal 3 of Delhis IGI airport tomorrow. This is the first of the 27 Dreamliner aircraft ordered by Air India.
The aircraft has 18 full-flat business class seats with flat-bed recline, and 238 economy class seats.
The carrier will take delivery of two more Dreamliners in the next few weeks.
The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which is expected to be inducted in Air India's fleet shortly, is "fundamentally the right plane" for the airline's turnaround, a senior Boeing official said today.
Three of these sophisticated aircraft, made out of composite carbon material, are ready at the Boeing facility in South Carolina, US, and a team of Air India officers, including the crew, is already there to take their delivery.
"Three Boeing 787 Dreamliners are ready for delivery at the Charleston. It is up to the airline when it takes their delivery. Boeing 787s are the fundamentally right plane for the turnaround of Air India," Dinesh A Keskar, Boeing's Senior Vice President, Sales, Asia-Pacific and India, told reporters here.
The Dreamliner will help the national carrier augment and expand its network, he said, adding that the plane has the range and the capacity to be deployed on many routes including the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and Australia at "significantly lower operating costs".
Over the next four years, Boeing would deliver seven of these aircraft, he said. The company has so far delivered 19 aircraft to four airlines -- 13 to All Nippon Airlines, four to Japan Airlines and one each to Ethiopian Airways and Lan Airlines of Chile.
(You need to login first to read complete news). New User? Register for FREE!
» Back to Travel News