Air India may seek delay in 787 delivery

Air India which is due to be the second operator of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, is considering asking the manufacturer to defer deliveries of the aircraft because of a lack of cash, two people familiar with the airline’s plan said yesterday.
The state-owned carrier has ruled out cancelling the entire order of 27 aircraft because the government may not approve, one of the sources said. The sources declined to be identified because they were not authorised to speak to the media. Air India is scheduled to get its first 787 in the fourth quarter.
Air India has slowed expansion after losing customers to Jet Airways (India) and discount carrier IndiGo. The Mumbai-based flag carrier is losing 260-million rupees ($5,8m) a day, compelling it to seek funds from the government as it tries to refinance bank loans.
Kamaljeet Rattan, a spokesman for Air India, said he was not aware of any plan to defer deliveries of the 787. Dinesh Keskar, the head of Boeing’s India commercial-aircraft business, was not available on his cellphone. Miles Kotay, a spokesman for Chicago-based Boeing, did not reply to an e-mail sent last Tuesday.
"Boeing won’t have a problem reallocating these aircraft to other airlines," said Binit Somaia, director of Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation in Sydney. "The 787 is so late that so many airlines are screaming to get hold of it."
09/06/11 Karthikeyan Sundaram/BusinessDay

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Categories: Air India Jun 2011, Foreign Jun 2011