Boeing's Indian guru: Air India will survive and take all its Dreamliners; aviation on the turn on the subcontinent

Dinesh Keskar has just returned to live in Seattle after a three-year stint as Boeing's president in India. At the Farnborough Air Show, his take on India's aviation sector, currently drowning in red ink and stalled by political paralysis, was surprisingly upbeat.
A pilot strike crippled Air India for 59 days, finally ending just this week. Three Air India 787 Dreamliners (two of them built in Everett) are sitting ready in North Charleston, S.C., awaiting only approval from the Indian government for delivery.
Air India has been bleeding money, losing $3.8 billion in the last three years. Indian carriers this year are projected to have combined losses of $2 billion.
Yet Keskar, now Boeing Commercial Airplanes senior vice president of sales for India and Asia Pacific, has no doubt that Air India will survive and thrive, and that the Indian aviation sector will recover.
"Air India will always be there," said Keskar. "The Dreamliners will be delivered. They are a vital part of the airline's turnaround plan."
His confidence in Air India is based on a $6 billion government cash infusion and the lift its Dreamliners will give it.
13/07/12 Dominic Gates/Seattle Times

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Categories: Air India Jul 2012, Foreign Jul 2012