Air India sets it eyes on Airbus A380 to meet demand in 2012

New Delhi: Air India Ltd, the country’s state-owned carrier that is merging with its affiliate Indian Airlines Ltd, could be the second airline in India to fly the world’s largest passenger aircraft, the Airbus SAS’ A380, five years from now.
Air India is considering ordering eight of the super-jumbos, which would cost around $320 million or Rs1,293 crore each at list prices, and can fly more than 850 passengers in an all-economy seat configuration on long-haul routes such as Mumbai-London.
The UB Group-owned Kingfisher Airlines Ltd is the only Indian carrier so far to have ordered the A380, five of them, and is planning to start operations between Mumbai and London and on the Bangalore-San Francisco route starting 2011. However, given the delays in delivery that had plagued the double-decker aircraft, Kingfisher is yet to firm up options for buying another five A380.
The other buyers for the super-jumbo in Asia are Emirates, Singapore Airlines and Etihad Airways.
Airbus confirmed that talks were on with Air India for the A380s.
10/07/07 Tarun Shukla/Livemint

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Categories: Air India Jul 2007