Air India Ltd., due to be the second operator of Boeing Co. (BA)’s 787 Dreamliner, is considering asking the planemaker to defer deliveries of the aircraft because of a lack of cash, two people familiar with the airline’s plan said.
The state-owned carrier has ruled out canceling the entire order of 27 planes because the government may not approve, one of the people said. The people declined to be identified because they aren’t authorized 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) Ltd. and discount carrier IndiGo. The Mumbai-based flag carrier is losing 260 million rupees ($5.8 million) 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 wasn’t aware of any plan to defer deliveries of the 787. Dinesh Keskar, the head of Boeing’s India commercial-aircraft business, wasn’t available when called on his cellphone. Miles Kotay, a spokesman for the Chicago-based planemaker, didn’t reply to an e-mail sent on June 2.
“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.”
08/06/11 Karthikeyan Sundaram/Bloomberg.com
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