By the beginning of 2023, Air India will resume using its ten wide-body aircraft, the Tata-owned airline announced on Sunday.
“Air India’s wide-body fleet currently stands at 43 aircraft, of which 33 are operational. This is a significant improvement from 28 aircraft that the airline was operating till recently,” its statement said according to news agency PTI.
Long-haul international flights like those between India and the US or India and Canada are best served by wide-body aircraft. The aircraft’s fuel tank is larger.
The airline claimed that by early 2023, the remaining planes will gradually undergo maintenance. Additionally, they stated that starting on August 31st, flights between Delhi and Vancouver, which presently only run three times each week, will operate daily.
This increase in frequency between the cities is due to the increased volume of travel between Delhi and Vancouver as well as the reinstatement of the Boeing 777-300 ER (a wide-body aircraft).
Following its acquisition by Tata Group, Boeing is collaborating closely with Air India to restart any aircraft that have been forcibly grounded due to COVID-19 and other restrictions.
“The progressive restoration of these aircraft has already allowed Air India to increase schedule resilience and will allow further frequency and network increases over the coming months,” the statement added.
After successfully bidding for the airline on October 8 of last year, the Tata Group assumed ownership of the company on January 27.
Last month, Campbell Wilson, Air India’s recently appointed CMD, inquired about the airline’s integrated operations control centre (IOCC). Any airline’s “nerve centre” is the IOCC. He requested an immediate report from IOCC as well as recommendations for enhancing on-time performance.
He added that the first step toward rebuilding Air India’s fleet and network is the frequency increase on the Delhi-Vancouver route.
