New Delhi: Air India has asked the inter-ministerial group (IMG) set up to find a replacement to the almost 25-year-old Boeing 747s used to fly the president and prime minister as AI One to expeditiously reach a conclusion. The airline, which had earlier proposed Boeing 777-300 extended range (ER) as a possible successor to the Jumbo Jet, is supposed to take a decision on three B-777s that it is supposed to shortly take delivery of from the US major.
Sources say unless the IMG decides in favor of the B-777 300 ER as the next long haul VVIP aircraft, AI will not take these planes. Instead, the airline will convert this order to the shorter range Boeing 737s or medium range 787 Dreamliners which will be commercially more beneficial to the airline than the long haul plane which can fly nonstop to America.
"The old Boeing 747s being used today for long international flights by the PM are perfectly safe to fly but due to their advanced age, they are fuel guzzlers. Also, they can't fly nonstop to distant places like the Americas. During the 10-year-long Manmohan Singh's prime ministerial period, the one-stop flight to distant destinations worked well as the then PM was more comfortable with a break on a long journeys. PM Modi, on the other hand, is extremely energetic and can do long journeys nonstop without any visible fatigue. So, the IMG has to now decide which plane to pick," said a highly placed source.
05/12/14 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
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Sources say unless the IMG decides in favor of the B-777 300 ER as the next long haul VVIP aircraft, AI will not take these planes. Instead, the airline will convert this order to the shorter range Boeing 737s or medium range 787 Dreamliners which will be commercially more beneficial to the airline than the long haul plane which can fly nonstop to America.
"The old Boeing 747s being used today for long international flights by the PM are perfectly safe to fly but due to their advanced age, they are fuel guzzlers. Also, they can't fly nonstop to distant places like the Americas. During the 10-year-long Manmohan Singh's prime ministerial period, the one-stop flight to distant destinations worked well as the then PM was more comfortable with a break on a long journeys. PM Modi, on the other hand, is extremely energetic and can do long journeys nonstop without any visible fatigue. So, the IMG has to now decide which plane to pick," said a highly placed source.
05/12/14 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
