With the Tata Group taking control of Air India, the airline is in talks to buy out a bunch of wide-brimmed aircraft. We recently reported that the erstwhile national carrier Airbus would be procuring the A350 aircraft. In a new statement from Airbus’ Chief Commercial Officer, it has been confirmed that the airline is reorganizing itself under the new ownership. However, it is still unclear whether the operator is willing to buy new wide-body Airbus aircraft. When asked about the order for Airbus A350 aircraft from Air India during the IATA’s Annual General Meeting, Christian Scherer said, “I will not comment on that.”
Christian Scherer’s remarks came after reports last week that Tata Group-owned Air India is getting closer to ordering its first batch of wide-body A350 planes from Airbus and the first aircraft to be delivered to the airline by March. is likely to. 2023.
However, it was not immediately clear how many A350 aircraft Air India would buy.
“Air India is clearly restructuring itself under the very capable leadership of Tata and as such, it is very natural that they consider investing in new fleets, new airplanes, if only more so for an Indian carrier. Sovereignty, to gain more market share. In the international market,” Shire said.
Air India has not bought a single aircraft since 2006 when it ordered 111 aircraft – 68 from US-based aircraft maker Boeing and 43 from European aircraft maker Airbus.
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A wide-bodied aircraft such as the Airbus A350 has a large fuel tank which allows it to travel long distances such as on Indo-US routes.
After successfully winning the bid for the airline on October 8 last year, the Tata group took over control of Air India on January 27.
Sources told PTI on June 15 that Air India has started asking its senior pilots if they would be interested in getting “conversion training” to operate the A350 aircraft.
Air India pilots are trained to operate Boeing’s wide-body aircraft. Therefore, they undergo “conversion training” to operate Airbus’s A350 aircraft.
According to the Air India website, the airline has a total of 49 wide-body aircraft in its fleet – 18 Boeing B777s, 4 Boeing B747s and 27 Boeing B787s. The carrier also has 79 narrow-bodied aircraft in its fleet.
Sources had said that Air India is procuring A350 aircraft and is likely to get its first A350 aircraft by March 2023.
Since April, the airline’s chairman N Chandrasekaran – who is also the chairman of the Tata Group – has replaced the airline’s top management, bringing in senior and mid-level executives who have worked in other Tata group companies such as Tata Steel and has done. Expansion.