Air India Looking to Lease More Widebodies, Working With Boeing to Reduce Delays

In the recent past, there have been various incidents where the ultra-long-haul flights of Air India were delayed by more than 24 hours. A senior Air India official aware of this matter discussed these delays with the Hindu Business Line and shared how the airline is aiming to reduce them. In addition, he also revealed the plan to lease more widebody aircraft in the coming time.

Air India Looking to Lease More Widebody Aircraft

During a discussion with the Hindu Business Line, a senior Air India official said that the airline is looking to lease more widebody aircraft. These jets are expected to grow the long-haul network of Air India. However, he admitted that in this tense market, sourcing widebody aircraft is a difficult job mainly because of supply chain issues. To improve its services, the airline is taking some measures.

Since its inception, Air India has leased 11 Boeing widebody aircraft from the second-hand market. Out of these, five Boeing 777-200LRs previously belonged to Delta Airlines, and the remaining six are former Etihad Boeing 777-300ERs. In addition, Air India was planning to lease three more Boeing 77Ws from Singapore International Airlines (SIA), but it seems that the plan has been dropped.

The $400 million retrofit program of Air India has also been delayed from mid-2024 to early 2025. While some of the long-haul routes have received the leased Boeing 777s (with better products), many routes are still operated using the older Boeing 777 and 787 fleet. It will be interesting to see, whether Air India will lease more widebody aircraft or not.

Air India Working With Boeing

Air India is actively collaborating with Boeing on a reliability improvement program. Under this program, the aerospace manufacturer analyzes the causes of unreliability and delays, helping the airline in streamlining its performance.

The airline is enhancing its ground operations to boost the reliability of its long-haul flights and improve customer experience. According to the HBL report, it is reorganizing the ground operations.

Earlier, the ground operations were combined with the Customer Experience department. Now, a new team has been established, which is dedicated to ground operations. Jayaraj Shanmugam, who was appointed as the Head of Global Operations in April month is a part of this team.

In addition, the senior management of Air India is reviewing whether the SOPs for customer facilitation are being adhered to in cases of flight delays.

Reducing Maintenance Dependence

As part of the privatization agreement, Air India has to undertake engineering services from AI Engineering Services Limited (AIESL). During privatization, the airline was duty-bound to take services from AIESL for the next two years.

However, this scenario is going to change. First, because the airline is just months away from completing two years of privatization.

Secondly, it has already signed a partnership with the Bengaluru Airport operator and SIA Engineering Company to set up a Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) facility at Bengaluru Airport. By the end of 2025, this facility will be ready, which will include aircraft hangars and component repair shops.

One major benefit is that all four Tata Group Airlines have different aircraft, as a result of which they are licensed to perform specific types of maintenance on certain aircraft. By consolidating all these skills, the group will be able to conduct the maintenance under its supervision. By the end of next year, Air India will have its in-house engineering unit.

Conclusion: Air India Collaboration With Boeing

Air India is looking to lease more widebody aircraft. However, the sourcing of these aircraft is challenging. To reduce the delays in long-haul flights, the airline is collaborating with Boeing on a reliability improvement program. It is developing its own in-house engineering unit to reduce dependence on third-party MRO services.

What do you think about these decisions of Air India? Discuss in the comment section.