Tata group-owned Air India plans to hire expat pilots for its Boeing 777 planes as the airline is facing a shortage of pilots amid plans to expand its fleet as well as international operations, according to sources. The carrier is looking to rope in around 100 pilots for the wide-body Boeing 777 fleet and has approached various agencies that provide expat flight crew to airlines, the sources told PTI. The loss-making Air India, which was under government ownership for nearly seven decades till the Tata group took over in January 2022, had stopped hiring expat pilots many years ago to save costs.
The company officials informed that a static test of the fuselage was over and an analysis of the results could be finished by the end of December.
No move yet on delivery of 787s slated for mid-January.
The national carrier, which had placed orders for 27 of these aircraft six years ago, would get its first Dreamliner on Saturday, which is to be followed by the delivery of two more within the next few weeks.
India has got the money and workforce, but no Indian firm has so far decided to do it
This was one of the planes being readied for Air India that has ordered 27 of them, official sources said.
Air India says it would be operating its new Boeing-787 Dreamliner aircraft on key domestic routes, not abroad, to begin with. The first of these is to be inducted later this month, on routes such as Mumbai-Delhi.
Air India has six Dreamliners and has ordered 21 more.
Air India plans to buy 27 B-787 'Dreamliners' from Boeing which are to be delivered in phases.
According to the Seattle-based Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, its 'professional' members -- who perform the main engineering duties on Boeing planes -- voted narrowly in favor of accepting the contract, while a smaller group of "technical" members -- who support the engineers -- voted to reject it. Both groups voted in favor of authorizing the union to call a strike.
Boeing admitted on Wednesday that it would have to redesign parts of its troubled 787 Dreamliner, raising the prospect of a third delay to delivery of the new aircraft would be delayed for the third time in recent months. The company's comments came in response to a warning from Steven Udvar-Hazy, chairman of International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC), the 787's biggest customer.
Air India is set to increase capacity on domestic and international routes over the next few months as it overhauls its grounded aircraft. Air India has the approval to operate 2,456 flights per week in the summer schedule. This is more than a 16 per cent increase over 2020. But its international schedule has declined 41 per cent (compared to winter 2019) to 361 weekly departures.
The runways are expected to be made operational for the larger aircraft before the Commonwealth Games in October.
In a statement, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said the airport and emergency teams responded swiftly and effectively after a full emergency was declared at 18.05 hours.
India will be one of the key centres for design and development of the A350 aircraft, European aircraft manufacturer Airbus' answer to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
The acquisition will give the Tatas a firm footing on international routes and generate economies of scale.
Planemakers have started pitching their latest aircraft to a privatised Air India which has been acquired by salt-to-steel conglomerate Tata Sons. European aerospace major Airbus on Monday said that it is in talks with the airline to sell its long haul aircraft Airbus A350-900. The wide-body aircraft is capable of flying non-stop between India and United States- one of the most popular and revenue generating routes.
Air India used to fly its 787s on three domestic and three international routes.
"Co-developed and verified" by Indian IT major, HCL Technologies, this chip would be integrated into the system data acquisition computer of the aircraft, a top company official has said.
Etihad is the fourth airline to operate the super jumbo aircraft to India.
It is a similar story several thousand miles away, outside the company's North Charleston, South Carolina final assembly building, where space is taken up by four 787s destined for Air India.
Boeing had announced a further six-month delay for the first flight and initial deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner programme to Air India. A high-level Boeing team will discuss the fallouts with IA, including compensation in the coming week. The revised delays will have a significant impact on IA's growth plan and financial aspect. Apart from compensation, Boeing will also have to factor in the impact of the delay on the carrier's growth plan when computing for the same.
The two Boeing 787s, which were to take off for their destinations just 10 minutes apart on Thursday, had to be replaced with new planes which flew the passengers to their respective destinations, they said.
Air India had placed an order for 68 aircraft, including Boeing 737s, 777s and 787s, all valued at $11 billion in Dec 2005.
The carrier expects to restart Dreamliner operations for domestic flights by mid-May, Ajit Singh said.
This is the largest single dose of equity infusion into the joint venture since its launch in January 2015.
Nacil was formed after the merger of erstwhile Indian Airlines and Air India in 2007. In 2004, they ordered for 111 aircraft -- 68 from Boeing and 43 from Airbus. The Boeing order included 27 B787-800 Dreamliners.
BA parent could order around 20 Airbus A350-1000s.
Boeing on Tuesday sought to calm concerns over its 787 programme by insisting it would deliver the first jet by the end of next year, although it left the door open for further delays by warning that the timetable was "aggressive" and far from "risk-free".
The US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has allowed Boeing to carry out flight tests of its 787 Dreamliner in order to help it check its troubled electrical system and batteries which is suspected to be the root cause of battery fire in one of its planes last month.
US transportation authorities are launching a review of the Dreamliner, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.
The CMD's focus on raising employee morale and cutting costs is paying off. The airline's operating losses have shrunk and earnings are looking up
The new service by American Airlines will provide connectivity to tech hubs in both the countries.
The embassy observations are part of a confidential official cable released by whistleblower website WikiLeaks on August 30.
The airline will fly the A320s between the Tier-II and Tier-III cities.
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The Dreamliner's introduction on the daily Singapore route is on popular demand, said Nirbhik Narang, Air India's country manager in Singapore.
United States aerospace major Boeing on Thursday said it received approval from the country's government to offer its F-15EX multi-role combat jet to the Indian Air Force.
In its bid to grab Air India orders, US aircraft manufacturer Boeing on Tuesday said it had offered a "comprehensive competitive pricing" to the public sector carrier, whose decision to purchase 50 aircraft of different makes was yet to get governmen
