Air India has received a contemporary breath sigh of relief since its acquisition by the Tatas in January this 12 months as now number of grounded plane are now taking off to the skies.
The cash-strapped airline prior to its acquisition is now witnessing several of its grounded aircraft taking off to the skies.
Having a fleet of 70 narrow body planes, of which 54 are currently serviceable, Air India has said that the remaining 16 planes will progressively return to service by early 2023.
As the Tatas continue to make the required investments into the carrier, Air India is set to place a mega order for both new wide body aircraft, Airbus A350, and single aisles. AI’s widebody fleet currently stands at 43 aircraft, of which 33 are operational.
The airline had last Sunday said that this “is a significant improvement from 28 aircraft that the airline was operating till recently.”
“Manufacturer Boeing has been working closely with Air India following its acquisition by Tata Group to restore aircraft that had been grounded for prolonged periods due to the Covid-19 pandemic and other reasons. The progressive restoration of these aircraft has already allowed AI to increase schedule resilience and will allow further frequency and network increases over the coming months,” AI added further.
Campbell Wilson, CEO of the Tata-owned airline, also said on Thursday, “Over the past six months (since Tatas took over the airline), Air India has been working closely with our partners to return aircraft to service, and we are delighted that this effort is now bearing fruit.”
Meanwhile, Air India announced 24 new domestic flights. The move is aimed at increasing the frequency between key metros.
The 24 additional flights include two new frequencies from Delhi to Mumbai, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad and from Mumbai to Chennai and Hyderabad. It also includes one new frequency on the Mumbai – Bengaluru route and Ahmedabad – Pune route.
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