New Delhi, May
3:
Air India's
domestic passengers will also get to fly the Boeing 787 aircraft, popularly
called the Dreamliner.
In an effort to
build up enough crew resources, the airline plans to deploy the new aircraft on
domestic metro routes and short-haul international routes starting from the
second week of June. The proposed deployment on these routes will be an interim
measure and it would be wrong to say the aircraft will only operate on domestic
routes, a person familiar with the development said.
The decision
could see the airline use the new aircraft to operate one of the scheduled
return flights from Delhi to Mumbai and Hyderabad that are currently operated
with another aircraft for about 6-12 weeks. The new aircraft are also likely to
operate on short-haul international routes such as flights to Singapore and
Dubai, sources added.
The new
aircraft can typically carry between 210 and 250 passengers on routes of 14,200
km to 15,200 km, although the distance between the metros is a fraction of what
the aircraft can fly.
Sources
explained that training for crew is related to the number of landings they
undertake on the aircraft.
If the airline
deploys the aircraft on international long-haul routes, such as operating to Europe,
Australia and the US, the training process will become a long-drawn-out
process.
The first of
the 27 Boeing 787 aircraft is expected to join the fleet at the end of the
month.
The aircraft
should enter into commercial service in the domestic skies about a week after
arriving in India.
Air India is
the third global airline after All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines to receive
the aircraft.
Air India was
to receive the first Boeing 787 aircraft in May 2008 but the delivery got
pushed forward to the end of the month for a variety of reasons, including
manufacturing delays.
No comments:
Post a Comment