American aircraft maker Boeing will fly its most anticipated and state-of-the-art airplane, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, to India next week, aviation industry sources said.
The aircraft, already behind schedule by over three years from its first delivery date, has national carrier Air India as its second delivery customer after Japanese private carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA).
One of the lightest planes to have taken to the skies, the airplane, made of carbon fibre and composite materials, will fly to the Delhi International Airport for two test flights and then to Mumbai on July 16, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter. From Mumbai, the aircraft takes off to its base in Seattle. Boeing flew 787 with its first customer ANA to Tokyo on July 3. The Japanese carrier is also contemplating putting the 787s on Mumbai-Tokyo route. “The 787 Dreamliner will fill in the much-needed gap in the mid-sized aircraft segment for the airlines in India,” said Boeing’s India president Dinesh Keskar, declining to offer a comment on the test flight of the Boeing 787 to India.
Airlines in India have a mix of both narrow body aircraft, Boeing 737 and Airbus A320, which can fly 160-190 passengers, and wide-body, like the A330s and B777s, which have the capacity to fly over 350 passengers. But the Dreamliner offers an option of flying 250 passengers for the long-haul flights with maximum fuel efficiency. “Only the functional reliability test remains to be done,” Mr Keskar said.
Boeing’s Dreamliner programme has been through some rough weather after the strike at its Seattle facility and production delays as it relies heavily on Boeing’s use of assembled parts and reliance on outsourcing from other countries. The first test flight took off in 2009.
Boeing’s India head also said that Air India will get its deliveries for the 787 as announced in the fourth quarter of this year, putting to rest speculation that the American aircraft maker might once again stretch the delivery for the languishing national carrier to early next year. Air India is the first customer in the world which will fit the Boeing 787 with a GE engine. India’s other leading airline Jet Airways has 10 of the Dreamliners on order, but Jet’s deliveries are slated for 2014 now.
“Air India can fly its passengers long-distance to regional routes like Tokyo and Australia with this mid-sized aircraft and this 787 link is crucial to its turnaround plan,” Mr Keskar said. Air India, which is facing a dwindling market share on international
routes (already slipped to the fifth position in the domestic market), with a passenger load factor of mid sixties on these flights, has squarely blamed the slack performance on lack of availability of the right aircraft for flying to sectors like Melbourne in Australia, and others.
Air India has asked for compensation from the US plane maker for this delay. “We cannot disclose the amount that Boeing will give to Air India as compensation,” Mr Keskar said. To meet the gap till the airliner gets the deliveries, the airliner is scouting the market for rival plane maker Airbus’ wide-body aircraft A330.
The aircraft, already behind schedule by over three years from its first delivery date, has national carrier Air India as its second delivery customer after Japanese private carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA).
One of the lightest planes to have taken to the skies, the airplane, made of carbon fibre and composite materials, will fly to the Delhi International Airport for two test flights and then to Mumbai on July 16, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter. From Mumbai, the aircraft takes off to its base in Seattle. Boeing flew 787 with its first customer ANA to Tokyo on July 3. The Japanese carrier is also contemplating putting the 787s on Mumbai-Tokyo route. “The 787 Dreamliner will fill in the much-needed gap in the mid-sized aircraft segment for the airlines in India,” said Boeing’s India president Dinesh Keskar, declining to offer a comment on the test flight of the Boeing 787 to India.
Airlines in India have a mix of both narrow body aircraft, Boeing 737 and Airbus A320, which can fly 160-190 passengers, and wide-body, like the A330s and B777s, which have the capacity to fly over 350 passengers. But the Dreamliner offers an option of flying 250 passengers for the long-haul flights with maximum fuel efficiency. “Only the functional reliability test remains to be done,” Mr Keskar said.
Boeing’s Dreamliner programme has been through some rough weather after the strike at its Seattle facility and production delays as it relies heavily on Boeing’s use of assembled parts and reliance on outsourcing from other countries. The first test flight took off in 2009.
Boeing’s India head also said that Air India will get its deliveries for the 787 as announced in the fourth quarter of this year, putting to rest speculation that the American aircraft maker might once again stretch the delivery for the languishing national carrier to early next year. Air India is the first customer in the world which will fit the Boeing 787 with a GE engine. India’s other leading airline Jet Airways has 10 of the Dreamliners on order, but Jet’s deliveries are slated for 2014 now.
“Air India can fly its passengers long-distance to regional routes like Tokyo and Australia with this mid-sized aircraft and this 787 link is crucial to its turnaround plan,” Mr Keskar said. Air India, which is facing a dwindling market share on international
routes (already slipped to the fifth position in the domestic market), with a passenger load factor of mid sixties on these flights, has squarely blamed the slack performance on lack of availability of the right aircraft for flying to sectors like Melbourne in Australia, and others.
Air India has asked for compensation from the US plane maker for this delay. “We cannot disclose the amount that Boeing will give to Air India as compensation,” Mr Keskar said. To meet the gap till the airliner gets the deliveries, the airliner is scouting the market for rival plane maker Airbus’ wide-body aircraft A330.
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