Air India Boeing 747 Parked at Mumbai Airport Heads to Seattle

After selling the entire Boeing 747 fleet of Air India, one of the four aircraft parked at Mumbai CSMIA Airport has been ferried to Seattle Paine Field International Airport (PAE). Nomadic Aviation, which specializes in aircraft ferry flights was assigned the job to move the aircraft out of Mumbai.

Despite the long grounding, technicians from AI Engineering Services Limited (AIESL) were maintaining the aircraft. Hence, it was airworthy.

Air India Boeing 747 Ferried Away

Boeing 747 registered as VT-EVA, nicknamed Agra has been ferried out of Mumbai Airport. Now, the aircraft is flying to Seattle Paine Field. It has received a new registration- N940AS. Crew from Nomadic Aviation is ferrying the aircraft under the flight number- OMD223. During departure, the aircraft conducted a special wing wave maneuver to signify a special moment.

Air India had a fleet of four Boeing 747-400 aircraft. These aircraft have been parked at Mumbai Airport for the last couple of years. In December 2022, Air India appointed a United Kingdom-based company named Skytech AIC to sell these aircraft. Now, they have been sold to AerSale Incorporation. This company specializes in various fields such as MRO and the supply of spare parts.

According to a report from the Economic Times, two of these four aircraft will be converted to freighters. The remaining two will be scrapped for provisioning of spare parts. Two of these aircraft registered as VT-ESO and VT-ESP were delivered to Air India in 1993 and 1994 respectively. As they are older airframes, they are more likely to be scrapped. The other two – VT-EVA and VT-EVB were delivered in 1996.

Vman Aviation, an Indian lessor based in GIFT City, Gujarat helped in the sale process of these Boeing 747s. Despite being out of production, the Boeing 747 freighter has a lot of demand in the market. There are very limited options available in the market.

Air India & Its Boeing 747 Fleet

In its entire history, Air India operated a fleet of 31 Boeing 747s. This includes 14 B747-200s, 3 B747-300s, and 14 B747-400s. Some of these aircraft were owned and others were wet-leased. The airline used to name its aircraft after elements of India’s rich cultural heritage. The last four Boeing 747s were named ‘Agra’, ‘Khajuraho’, ‘Ajanta’, and ‘Velha Goa’.

The Boeing 747 named Agra was the last aircraft to be retired by Air India. It was retired in March 2021. The remaining three B747s were retired in 2020.

Air India often used these quad jets for VVIP flights for the President and Prime Minister of India. On many occasions, these aircraft operated as ‘Air India One’. Furthermore, due to its high density, it served the London Heathrow and New York JFK markets for a long time. The airline used it for Hajj flights to and from Jeddah and Medina Airport.

In 2019, due to the closure of Jet Airways, Indian aviation was facing a shortage of domestic capacity. During that tough period, Air India deployed the high-density Boeing 747s on domestic routes to mitigate the capacity demand.

Moving Towards a New Era

With privatization, Air India is taking flight to a new era. In December 2023, the airline received delivery of the first of its 40 Airbus A350s. The aircraft was ferried from Toulouse to Delhi on December 23rd, 2023. This marked the arrival of the first-ever Airbus A350 in India.

At the Paris Airshow 2023, Air India placed a huge order of 470 aircraft, which included 70 widebody jets. This widebody order comprised of 40 Airbus A350, 20 Boeing 787, and 10 Boeing 777X jets.

Air India currently has four Airbus A350s in its fleet. The airline pressed this aircraft type into commercial operations in January. Since then, it has operated more than 100 domestic flights and is now eligible to operate internationally. From May 1, Air India will deploy its Airbus A350 on its maiden international flight between Delhi and Dubai. The aircraft will operate daily flights between both cities.

I think Air India should have preserved at least one of its Boeing 747s. What do you think? Discuss in the comment section.

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