AI board may defer deliveries of 787 Dreamliners
15 Sep 2011
New Delhi: The board of state-owned Air India, which meets tomorrow, may decide to defer deliveries of Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Senior officials confirmed that the board may consider the proposal as one of the options before it in a bid to wriggle out of the tight financial position that they are faced with.
This will be the first meeting of the board since Rohit Nandan took over as the chairman and managing director, replacing Arvind Jadhav.
Cancellation of orders may not be considered as an option as the deal is to be financed by the US Exim Bank.
The board will also discuss the revised turnaround plan submitted to it by the carrier. Earlier the carrier had downsized its fleet expansion plans and growth projections.
Air India is yet to receive 27 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, deliveries of which have been delayed by over three years, as well as three Boeing 777s deliveries of which have also been deferred.
AI is scheduled to take delivery of its first two 787's in the fourth quarter of this year. The Dreamliners are a critical part of the airline's revival plans as it does not have medium-haul aircraft. This lacuna forces the carrier to operate medium-haul international sectors with long-haul aircraft, like Boeing 777s, which makes the operations commercially unviable.
