Ai Asks Boeing To Send Its Offer For 200-Seater Aircraft

The Air India (AI) board has asked Boeing to send its proposal for the 200-seater aircraft the airline plans to purchase during this year. Air India had already shortlisted Airbus A-310 and had sought clearance from the board before placing orders.

The airline has eight Airbus A310 in its fleet consisting of 28 aircraft. Three more A-310s were on option and, as per the fleet acquisition programme, it had intended to confirm acquisition of two B747-400 and two A310-300.

However, during a recent board meeting, some of the members sought details about Boeing 767-200 aircraft and wanted Air India to seek a proposal from the US manufacturer too before placing a firm order.

 

Air India was the first airline to order an A310-300 powered by a GE engine. Since then it has bought seven more, but with the inclusion of Boeing as a contender for the purchase of three more aircraft, Air India will now have to set up a committee for evaluating the bids before referring its recommendation to the board. Once the board clears the recommendation, it will have to seek necessary government clearances before orders can be placed. After the current acquisition plan is completed, AIr India plans to place order for medium capacity long range (MCLR) aircraft, for which both Boeing B777 and Airbus A340 are among the contenders. It plans to buy 10 MCLRs worth around $1.3 billion with 12 more on options.

By the end of 2002, Air India plans to have a total of 43 aircraft in its fleet with a growth rate of 13.3 per cent between 1997-98 and 2001-2002. New stations which are likely to be connected during this period are Stockholm, Zurich and Brussels and other foreign stations. The airline plans to turn round the corner during this year by making a net profit of around Rs 91 crore.

The budget estimates for 1997-98 has been based on 7 per cent increase in yield over the actual yield for the period between July 1996-December 1996 during April-September 1997 and 9 per cent in the second half of the year.

It also assumes 5 per cent increase over the existing costs of fuel, landing, handling, navigation and passenger amenities.

The airline is in the process of upgrading its engineering department to apply for ISO-9000 accredition during this year. Its plans to spin off the department as a separate profit centre during this year would be done in phases.

Air India also plans to develop its infrastructure to carry out major checks of A-300 in house which is expected to lead to a savings of around Rs 4 crore per aircraft.

The airline plans to undertake programme communication in two phases where phase I would consist of image enhancement and phase II would consist of a branding campaign, which would seek to position Air India executive, first class and economy class as separate products.