Air India planning for deployment of new Dreamliners
21 Dec 2012
Air India is drawing up plans for the deployment of five new Boeing Dreamliners B-787s, which it expects to receive in the next few weeks. The aircraft would be deployed on the Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore, Bali and Istanbul routes, aviation minister Ajit Singh said yesterday.
Air India has received three Dreamliners so far.
Singh has asked the carrier to explore the possibility of flights to Indonesia, including Bali, Istanbul and beyond too.
The suggestion came at a meeting called to review the functioning of the airline, including its revenue generation and cash flow management as part of its turnaround and financial restructuring plans.
Expressing satisfaction over the payment of salaries to the employees till November, he said out of Rs2,000 crore, which Air India would receive next month in the form of equity as budgetary support, Rs500 crore would need to go towards clearing all arrears.
Expressing concern at the estimated shortfall of about Rs404 crore in the monthly average cash flow, he directed Air India to try to ensure that the cash inflow matched the outflow. In the ongoing financial year so far, the airline's revenue was Rs1,348 crore while expenditure stood at Rs1,752 crore.
