No pilot, so AI to lease out its Boeing 777 fleet

New Delhi: Cash-strapped carrier Air India is looking to offer a few of its Boeing 777 aircraft fleet for lease due to scarcity of pilots. The leasing process would start later next month after the firm receives three Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft later this month, an Air India official said.

The national carrier will restart some of its abandoned ultra-long haul operations to New Jersey, Toronto and Newark where the 777s fly with the more fuel-efficient 787 fleet by next month to save costs. The company has a fleet of 17 777 aircraft but most of them are grounded due to the strike as pilots have not reported to duty for the past month. “We are looking to use the Dreamliner 787 in international routes where flying the 777 is profitably unviable. We will put some of the 777 aircraft on lease as they are already grounded,” an Air India official said. The firm is currently training batches of pilots to be able to fly the modern 787 wide-body aircraft.
10/06/12 Saahil Anant/mydigitalfc.com

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Categories: Air India Jun 2012