Air India leases 30 new aircraft to boost domestic and international operations
 |
| Image Air India |
The airline says it hopes the new aircraft will enter service in late 2022, and will increase the airline’s fleet by over 25%. Not counting the 10 long-grounded narrow-body and 6 wide-body aircraft that have been returned to service in recent months, these new aircraft mark the first major fleet expansion since Air
India’s acquisition by the Tata Group earlier this year.
The aircraft being leased include twenty-one Airbus A320neos, four Airbus A321neos and five Boeing
B777-200LRs. New aircraft come in addition to 16 long-grounded aircraft returned to service The B777-200LRs will join the fleet between December 2022 and March 2023, and will be deployed on routes from Indian metro cities to the United States of America. Mumbai will see the addition of flights to San Francisco as well as to both of the New York area’s international airports, Newark Liberty and John F Kennedy, while Bangalore will receive a 3x weekly service to San Francisco. These aircraft will result in Air India offering Premium Economy haul flights for the first time.
The 4 A321 aircraft are expected to join the Air India fleet in the first quarter of the calendar year 2023, while the 21 A320 will be inducted in the second half of 2023. These aircraft will be deployed on domestic sectors as well as to short-haul international destinations.
Commenting on the fleet expansion, Mr Campbell Wilson, CEO & Managing Director, Air India, said, “After a long time without significant growth, Air India is delighted to resume expanding its fleet and global footprint. These new aircraft, together with existing aircraft being returned to service, address an immediate need for more capacity and connectivity and mark a strong step forward. Air India has exciting expansion and renewal plans, of which these new aircraft are just the beginning.”
Air India’s narrow-body fleet currently stands at 70 aircraft, of which 54 are in service; the remaining 16 aircraft will progressively return to service by early 2023. Similarly, Air India’s wide-body fleet currently stands at 43 aircraft, of which 33 are operational. The rest will return to service by early 2023.
Founded by the legendary JRD Tata, Air India had pioneered India’s aviation sector and the airline's history is, in fact, synonymous with the annals of civil aviation in India. Since its first flight on October
15, 1932, Air India has spread its wings to become a major international airline with a network across USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Far-East, South-East Asia, Australia and the Gulf. The airline also has an extensive domestic network, including far-flung areas of India’s North-East, Ladakh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Air India has been a member of Star Alliance, the largest global airline consortium, since July, 2014.
India's first international budget carrier, Air India Express was launched in 2005 to meet the need for affordable services on short and medium-haul routes- connecting smaller towns directly to the Gulf and South East Asia regions. After 69 years as a Government-owned enterprise, Air India and Air India Express were reacquired by the Tata group in January 2022. Post the acquisition, time-bound transformation milestones have been laid out and a series of steps have been initiated towards achieving the same in order to ensure Air India once again emerges as a world-class airline.