AI to seek more relief for delay in Boeing delivery

INDIA AVIATION-2008

National carrier Air India will be demanding an additional compensation from US aircraft manufacturer Boeing, since the airline estimates another round of delay in the delivery of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft due to the ongoing strike by Boeing employees.

“I am afraid the ongoing strike will lead to further delays for the Dreamliner. And further delays will obviously lead to an increase in the compensation amount,” said Raghu Menon, chairman and managing director of National Aviation Company of India (NACIL), the public sector company which owns the airline formed after the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines.

While Boeing Senior Vice-President Dinesh Keskar confirmed that there would be further delay in deliveries, when asked about additional compensation, he said, “I am sure he (Menon) is aware of the contract details, and the compensation will be worked accordingly.”

Keskar refused to divulge further details.

However, he asserted that even in the face of a massive slowdown, no airline in India has cancelled or deferred aircraft deliveries.

The delays will mean that Dreamliner will not be delivered to Air India even in November 2009.

The delivery of the Dreamliner has already been delayed by 15 months. Air India had asked for compensation from Boeing at that time too.

The aircraft manufacturer’s plants have been closed for the last five weeks, since its workforce of 27,000 machinists struck work over some wage disputes with the company. Recent international news agency reports quoted top Boeing officials as saying that the strike would definitely impact the delivery schedules of the Dreamliners.

In 2005, Air India placed an order for 68 Boeing aircraft at a cost of $11.6 billion. The order constituted 58 per cent of the total orders (in terms of costs) that Boeing received from India, and 48 per cent in terms of number of aircraft orders from the country.