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karatecatman


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RE: AI fleet news
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http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5922_1859615,0015002500000000.htm
AI in slow-fly zone, IA on skid row
Gaurav Choudhury and Sidhartha Roy
New Delhi, December 4 
 
AND YOU thought these were good times to travel by air. During November, as many as 25 Air India (AI) flights, operating on the United States, European and Canadian sectors, had to be cancelled. The reason? The airline failed to replace three 747-400 Boeing aircraft it had been using, whose leases expired on October 31.


Within the country, passengers of a Kolkata-Delhi Indian (Airlines) flight  went through moments of panic on Sunday night when the aircraft developed a technical snag and skidded a few feet right off the runway after landing.


An AI spokesman said the company had floated tenders in November 2005 to replace the three aircraft it had to surrender with new leased ones. "But we could not find suitable alternatives," he said.


As a result AI was forced to cancel flights citing "capacity constraints". On average, 200-250 passengers were booked on each cancelled flight. The spokesman said they were all accommodated either on alternative AI flights or on other international airlines with which AI has interline agreements. The agreements require AI to pay about $600 (Rs 27,000) per passenger to the partner airlines.


As for the domestic aircraft, an Indian spokesman said: "There was a problem with its hydraulic pressure and thus it went a few feet off the runway after slowing down." All flights had to be diverted to another runway. The airport's primary runway had to be closed for three hours to take the aircraft away.


 



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diddy_tong


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Interesting about the cancelled flights... they seem to be a bit more back on schedule this month (as far as I'm aware). Have they got any new planes from anywhere?

Anyway, I'm flying from LHR - ORD on Dec 15th on Air India, and am hoping to be on one of the upgraded 747s (with new PTVs etc). Does anyone know which of the 747s have been upgraded yet? Thanks!

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Aseem


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in one of the threads in A.net, there is talk of B772ER VT-AIL operating BOM-CDG-EWR flight.  AI is in a real mess before they get their 772LRs and 77Ws.
Any update about the wet lease besides the B763 that has already arrived.
rgds
VT-ASJ



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PALatYWG


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Aseem wrote:


in one of the threads in A.net, there is talk of B772ER VT-AIL operating BOM-CDG-EWR flight.  AI is in a real mess before they get their 772LRs and 77Ws.
Any update about the wet lease besides the B763 that has already arrived.
rgds
VT-ASJ



No wonder...AI website says BOM-PAR-EWR is now served on 777 (except one day). BOM- LHR is on 763 (replacing 4x weekly 777 flights) also AMD- LHR (for one of the 3 flights per week). Some other flights ( Like 2 of the 3 weekly CCU - LHR) are showing "JET" instead of 777. I guess "JET" is a general term, it can be any jet-engined a/c. Interesting!!

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karatecatman


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Air-India inducts new aircraft after 10-yr gap
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www.uniindia.com


Air-India inducts new aircraft after 10-yr gap


New Delhi, Dec 6 (UNI)


State-run carrier Air-India today inducted a brand new aircraft to its fleet after a gap of ten years, and said it plans to induct a fresh batch of pilots keeping future deliveries in mind.


 ‘‘The last induction of a new aircraft was in 1996 when we had Boeing 747-400 and we have been struggling with old aircraft. With today’s induction of a brand new Boeing 737-800 for our sister concern Air-India Express and the deliveries to come in the next few months, we are preparing oursleves a force to reckon with in the golbal aviation space,’’ Air-India Chairman and Managing Director V Thulasidas told reporters.


He said the carrier was inducting a fresh batch of 20 pilots considering its future aircraft inductions.


 Air-India had last year placed an order for 68 aircraft from Boeing at a cost of 11.6 billion dollars.


 ‘‘We will continue to hire more pilots as we have many more aircraft to be delivered,’’ he said, adding the airline was hiring expat pilots due to unavailability of qualified ones at home.


 Speaking on the occasion, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said new aircraft should rejuvenate the state-owned carrier and prepare it for the tough cometition.


 ‘‘We need a strong national carrier which can withstand stiff competition in this age of perform or perish,’’ he said.


 Allaying fears on the fallout of the merger of Air-India and Indian, the minister said the government was fully supportive of the future of the merged entity. ]


 



-- Edited by karatecatman at 16:54, 2006-12-06

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karatecatman


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Part 2


Explaining Air-India’s future deliveries from Boeing, Thulasidas said the carrier would be getting an additional five 737-800 jetliners during this fiscal.


 ‘‘In the next fiscal we will be getting six wide-bodied 777s and and by April 2007 we are aiming to start non-stop India-US flights,’’ he added.


 Thulasidas also said Air-India would be among the first few carriers in the world to have delivery of 787 Dreamliner from Boeing.


 ‘‘We would get the first of the 23 Dreamliners we have ordered in 2008. In the evolving global civil aviation scenario, that should put us in an advantageous position over competition,’’ he added.


 Asked about the future of the old fleet in the wake of new aircraft arrivals, Thulasidas said Air-India would gradually phase out its A-310s.


 ‘‘The timeframe for phasing out will depend on the expiry of the lease that we have signed,’’ he said.


 Boeing Commercial Air Planes Senior Vice President (Sales) Dinesh Keskar said the US aerospace firm was committed to its India plans and its delivery of the new aircraft to Air-India marked another milestone in their relationship.


 ‘‘Out first flight simulator has arrived in India and the ground breaking for the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility to be built in Nagpur will be held next year,’’ he added.



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Jaysit


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What's up with the leased 744s anyways?


I know that AI returned VT-EVJ (Fatehpur Sikri, an aircraft I flew on last summer from CDG to EWR, which seemed to be quite spiffy (by AI's standards) on the inside) to KE.  Have the other KE 744s been returned?  And when do the SQ 744s go back to the leasor?


Assuming they're all gone by now, that leaves AI with 6 fewer 744s and a 74M.  If so, what the hell was Thulasidas thinking, and why is this joker still in charge?



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Aseem


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that leaves me least bit excited about the forthcoming 777s.  They'll barely make up for the loss in short term.
Can anybody updated me about the status of wet-leased aircrafts.  I know one B763 has arrived, but what about NZ ones they were looking for.
rgds
VT-ASJ



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Nimish


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Aseem wrote:

but what about NZ ones they were looking for.




AI in it's infinite wisdom does not want the NZ ones any more. I don't know why not, but there's a whole thread on that on A.net

So AI is stuck without any other a/c that can be leased. This will certainly be a winter of shame for AI!

I wonder why they don't use the 310s to fly to Europe/USA, and leave all the Short haul travels to AIX's 738s? Also possibly pick up a few IC planes and use them on short haul intl sectors?

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ArtofZen


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I wonder why they don't use the 310s to fly to Europe/USA, and leave all the Short haul travels to AIX's 738s? Also possibly pick up a few IC planes and use them on short haul intl sectors?

Are the 310s in any condition (interiorwise) to fly to Europe. When I flew them some time back, they were in pretty bad shape interiorwise. The IFE was intermittent, the seat handles were cracked and the seat covers were shabby.

The 747s seem very well maintained compared to them.

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karatecatman


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Nimish wrote:


AI in it's infinite wisdom does not want the NZ ones any more. I don't know why not, but there's a whole thread on that on A.net

So AI is stuck without any other a/c that can be leased. This will certainly be a winter of shame for AI!

I wonder why they don't use the 310s to fly to Europe/USA, and leave all the Short haul travels to AIX's 738s? Also possibly pick up a few IC planes and use them on short haul intl sectors?


NZ management wanted AI to pay the crew using New Zealand as the calculating point. Would have doubled the crew pay rate then. AI backed off from this as it wanted the crew to be based in India.


NZ management also had a stringent clause on maintenance of interiors (after a very expensive upgrade), and engineering, which almost meant NZ starting its own mini-engineering unit at the AI base. This too was not acceptable to AI.


737s may be used along with A310s on some routes. The new 737-800 that landed yesterday (Dec. 6) has 20 drop down monitors, which will be useful on certain medium haul routes.   


  



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D-ABTH


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saw the 767 leased to Air India last night... operating a flight... i was a bit busy on ramp so i didnt have the time to find out what flight she was on... anyways... they have kept the flyglobespan underbelly and red upto the nose radome... while the fuse has been painted in standard Air India colours, as also the tail

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D-ABTH wrote:

saw the 767 leased to Air India last night... operating a flight... i was a bit busy on ramp so i didnt have the time to find out what flight she was on... anyways... they have kept the flyglobespan underbelly and red upto the nose radome... while the fuse has been painted in standard Air India colours, as also the tail


It seems you didn't click then?


Me eagerly waiting to see the 767 leased by AI... any pictures of that as yet?



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COUGAR


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TWENTY drop down monitors on a 737!!! So many?

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D-ABTH


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clicking isnt exactly encouraged at BOM... in addition... if you run into a really hardass CISF or AAI squad... you can have your pass suspended and ur ass hauled right through a lot of harassment... which really isnt worth it...

secondly... when i work... i dont give a shit what aircraft it is and how bad i wanna film it... theres no scope for error on ramp.. it demands your absolute concentration and focus

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Akshay


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Why is there so much hype around the aircraft that AI express has acquired? Are there any special extraordinary features in it? So much hype was not generated when 9W acquired 737-800s.

Akshay

-- Edited by Akshay at 12:31, 2006-12-14

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karatecatman


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Akshay wrote:


Why is there so much hype around the aircraft that AI express has acquired? Are there any special extraordinary features in it? So much hype was not generated when 9W acquired 737-800s.

Akshay

-- Edited by Akshay at 12:31, 2006-12-14



It's not about extraordinary features.
It's about hope for an airline, and its 18,000 employees, that almost never got its new fleet. Inaction for almost 5 years and countless fleet plans. 


It's about the culture of a public sector unit getting new equipment and having the mandatory tamasha when it is inducted.



It's also about celebrating the largest deal in Indian aviation history. 68 aircraft in one go. That's something to make a song and dance about.



-- Edited by karatecatman at 13:23, 2006-12-14

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