Air India may opt for longer range Boeing 787 planes

Air India (AI) is considering acquiring five Boeing 787-9 aircraft for flights to the US and Canada.

At present, it uses both narrow-body Airbus A320 and wide-body Boeing planes (747-400s, 777s and 787-8) on international routes. The 787-9 variant has a higher range and 40 more seats over the 787-8.

AI signed a deal with Boeing in 2005 to acquire 68 planes, including 27 of the 787. It has inducted 20 of the latter and will be taking delivery of its 21st aircraft in June. AI took a bridge loan to finance all the 787 inductions and later sold and then leased back 11 of the 20.

If the airline sticks to its original plan of inducting Boeing 787-8 planes, deliveries will be complete by mid-2016, while the 787-9’s will commence in 2017. A 787-8 has a list price of $218 million (Rs 1,350 crore), while the 787-9’s is $257 mn (Rs 1,590 crore).

The 787-8 has 256 seats (18 business and 238 economy seats) and is flown on European and Asian routes. “We are in discussion with Boeing for the  787-9 planes. The aircraft has a longer range and we could look to use these on high-density routes to Europe and the US. The unit cost of operating this aircraft would also be lower than the 787-8. We have loads of 75 percent on US routes and occupancy on Australia flights is picking up, too” said an AI executive.

He added the increase in maintenance cost due to a switch to would be minimal.

However aviation critics question the  move, as the airline does not have a proper fleet utilisation plan in place. Also, its record in utilising long-haul planes is below par. “The 787-9 is a good aircraft but an efficient Dreamliner cannot save an inefficient Air India,” remarked Devesh Agarwal, editor of aviation blog Bangalore Aviation. “About 30 per cent of its Boeing 777 fleet is surplus, lying unused. What will it do with its 777 fleet after inducting the 787-9?”.