Latest news with #B787-8s
Skift
12-06-2025
- Business
- Skift
6 Facts About Air India's Transformation – and What's at Stake After the Crash
After decades of losses, Air India has ambitious growth plans. Air India Liveblog Ongoing coverage of the crash of Air India flight 171 from Skift's editorial team in India, Europe, and the United States. Ongoing coverage of the crash of Air India flight 171 from Skift's editorial team in India, Europe, and the United States. Get the Latest Updates Skift's coverage of the Air India crash is offered free to all readers. Air India, having recently emerged from decades of financial and operational upheaval, now faces an intensely sobering moment. These six points explain the airline's recent transformation — and the shadow cast by today's disaster. 1: From Government Loss-Maker to Private Rebirth The airline was a deeply loss-making government entity for decades before 2022, when it was sold to the Tata Group, a large Indian conglomerate. 2: Singapore Airlines Enters the Picture As part of the Air India privatization, Singapore Airlines purchased a 25% ownership stake. The latter was for many years eager to expand its footprint in the large and high-potential Indian aviation market. 3: Consolidation Creates a Unified Network The privatization, importantly, coincided with a move to consolidate India's airline sector. Air India merged with Vistara, a young airline backed by Singapore Airlines. At the same time, Air India's low-cost subsidiary Air India Express merged with a smaller low-cost carrier backed by Malaysia's AirAsia Group. 4: One of the Global Leaders in Aircraft Orders Today's enlarged Air India is one of the world's largest airline customers for commercial jet aircraft. According to the aviation data company Cirium, it currently has 516 planes on firm order, roughly two-thirds of them with Airbus and the other third with Boeing. Twenty of those 516 units are Boeing Dreamliners, specifically the -9 version. (The Dreamliner is a common name for Boeing B787 model). The plane that crashed was a smaller -8 version. Air India's active fleet as of yesterday consisted of 27 B787-8s and seven B787-9s, of 305 planes in total. 5: Ambitious Growth Tempered by Delivery Delays The fact that Air India has a fleet of about 300 planes but an order book for about 500 planes highlights its ambitious growth plans. Its growth, however, has been slowed by aircraft delivery delays and engine issues. The airline has 5% more seats scheduled this quarter than the same quarter last year. 6: India's Exclusive Overseas Airline – Until Now Air India is currently the only Indian airline serving overseas markets like North America and western Europe. That's because until recently, it was the only Indian airline with a fleet of long-range twin-aisle aircraft like the B787. That's changing as rival IndiGo likewise plots a worldwide growth campaign. Both carriers hope to capitalize on India's rapid economic growth, eager to take a greater share of the Indian traffic now dominated by Middle Eastern Gulf carriers like Emirates and Qatar Airways.
NDTV
12-06-2025
- NDTV
Boeing 787-8, Which Crashed In Ahmedabad, Had Immaculate Safety Record
Ahmedabad: The Air India Ahmedabad-London flight crashed this afternoon, marking the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner's first fatal crash since the aircraft's debut in 2011. With 242 people on board, Air India flight AI171 took off from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhai Patel Airport around 2 pm and crashed minutes later into a residential area. Moments before the crash, the pilots issued a "Mayday" distress, call which received no response from the Air Traffic Controller. Flames erupted and thick smoke billowed from the site, rising high enough to be visible from miles across the city. Before Thursday's crash, the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft had an immaculate record with 1,000 planes delivered in around the 14 years since it was launched. Described on the company website as the "best-selling passenger wide-body of all time", the aircraft have carried more than one billion passengers. It is faster than any other widebody jet in aviation history and has a structure that reduces fuel consumption by up to 25 per cent. The long-haul aircraft has a range of 13,530 kilometres and is widely used by airlines for intercontinental flights. It has a capacity of 248 passengers. There are 27 legacy B787-8s with Air India. In the wide-body category, Air India now has 6 A350s, 19 B777-300 ERs, 5 B777-200 LRs, 7 B787-9s and 27 B787-8s. Among the narrow-body fleet are 6 A319s, 94 A320 neos, 4 A320 ceos, 13 A321 ceos and 10 A321 neos. On board the flight that crashed this afternoon, there were 169 Indians, 53 British, one Canadian and seven Portuguese nationals onboard. Further, two pilots and 10 crew members were present on the flight that was to fly to London's Gatwick airport.
Iraqi News
01-06-2025
- Business
- Iraqi News
Iraqi Airways to add 31 new aircraft by 2027
Baghdad ( – The Iraqi Ministry of Transport disclosed a plan on Saturday to expand Iraqi Airways' fleet by purchasing new aircraft. In a statement to the Iraqi News Agency (INA), the spokesperson of the Iraqi Transport Ministry, Maitham Al-Safi, explained that the ministry has developed a comprehensive plan to increase the number of aircraft through deals with major manufacturers. Iraqi Airways has received 13 aircraft, expanding the national carrier's air fleet, according to Al-Safi. Al-Safi illustrated that the aircraft Iraqi Airways received include five Airbus A220s, six Boeing 737 Max aircraft, and two B787-8s, known as Dreamliners. The Iraqi official stated that eight additional Dreamliners and 10 Max aircraft will be delivered, increasing the total number of modern aircraft purchased by Iraqi Airways to 31 by 2027. Al-Safi stated that Iraqi Airways has successfully returned 14 of the 24 grounded aircraft to operational status, emphasizing that the restoration of the remaining grounded aircraft is proceeding according to a set plan. Al-Safi added that Iraqi Airways currently owns 39 aircraft.
Economic Times
01-06-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
Air India decides to retrofit 13 legacy A321 ceo planes
Amid supply chain woes, Air India has decided to retrofit its 13 legacy A321 ceo planes that were earlier planned to be taken out of service while the first of the airline's legacy Boeing 787-8 aircraft will go for retrofit in July. Air India, which is slowly expanding its fleet and networks, has a total of 191 planes, including 64 wide-bodies and 127 narrow-bodies. Airline's CEO and MD Campbell Wilson told PTI that the first batch of the B 787s will go in for retrofit in July as there has been a little bit of push back because of certification delay of seats. "By the end of this financial year, hopefully about 68 per cent of the wide- body fleet will be upgraded and the complete fleet will be upgraded sometime in calendar 2027," he said in an interview. There are 27 legacy B787-8s with Air India. The carrier has already started the heavy refresh programme of the legacy B777s and two of them are already back in service. Heavy refresh of an aircraft includes having new carpets, seat covers, cushions and fixing broken seats. The refresh of these planes is expected to complete by the end of this year. According to Wilson, the supply chain situation is getting progressively better. "I believe 65-68 per cent of the narrow-body fleet has been upgraded. We are eyeing to complete all of them by the end of this year. We decided to extend the life of 13 aircraft (A321 ceos) that previously were to leave the fleet and those will be upgraded in the early part of next year. "Effectively, the narrow-body fleet (upgradation) will be completed this year," he said. In the wide-body category, Air India now has 6 A350s, 19 B777-300 ERs, 5 B777-200 LRs, 7 B787-9s and 27 B787-8s. Among the narrow-body fleet are 6 A319s, 94 A320 neos, 4 A320 ceos, 13 A321 ceos and 10 A321 neos. Aircraft deliveries as well as upgradation are getting delayed for many airlines, including Air India, mainly due to global supply chain woes. "I think it (supply chain situation) is getting progressively better. There are still constraints in a number of areas... it is progressively getting better over the years but it will still take I believe until 2029 or 2030," Wilson said. According to him, the bottlenecks are different for different aircraft. "It is supply challenge for engines on narrow-body aircraft... there is the recovery of Boeing 737 programme to its previous pace. It is getting faster and meeting the milestones. They will take (for) catch up... things are just progressively easing up," the Air India CEO and MD said.
Mint
01-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
Air India decides to retrofit 13 legacy A321 ceo planes
New Delhi, Jun 1 (PTI) Amid supply chain woes, Air India has decided to retrofit its 13 legacy A321 ceo planes that were earlier planned to be taken out of service while the first of the airline's legacy Boeing 787-8 aircraft will go for retrofit in July. Air India, which is slowly expanding its fleet and networks, has a total of 191 planes, including 64 wide-bodies and 127 narrow-bodies. Airline's CEO and MD Campbell Wilson told PTI that the first batch of the B 787s will go in for retrofit in July as there has been a little bit of push back because of certification delay of seats. "By the end of this financial year, hopefully about 68 per cent of the wide- body fleet will be upgraded and the complete fleet will be upgraded sometime in calendar 2027," he said in an interview. There are 27 legacy B787-8s with Air India. The carrier has already started the heavy refresh programme of the legacy B777s and two of them are already back in service. Heavy refresh of an aircraft includes having new carpets, seat covers, cushions and fixing broken seats. The refresh of these planes is expected to complete by the end of this year. According to Wilson, the supply chain situation is getting progressively better. "I believe 65-68 per cent of the narrow-body fleet has been upgraded. We are eyeing to complete all of them by the end of this year. We decided to extend the life of 13 aircraft (A321 ceos) that previously were to leave the fleet and those will be upgraded in the early part of next year. "Effectively, the narrow-body fleet (upgradation) will be completed this year," he said. In the wide-body category, Air India now has 6 A350s, 19 B777-300 ERs, 5 B777-200 LRs, 7 B787-9s and 27 B787-8s. Among the narrow-body fleet are 6 A319s, 94 A320 neos, 4 A320 ceos, 13 A321 ceos and 10 A321 neos. Aircraft deliveries as well as upgradation are getting delayed for many airlines, including Air India, mainly due to global supply chain woes. "I think it (supply chain situation) is getting progressively better. There are still constraints in a number of areas... it is progressively getting better over the years but it will still take I believe until 2029 or 2030," Wilson said. According to him, the bottlenecks are different for different aircraft. "It is supply challenge for engines on narrow-body aircraft... there is the recovery of Boeing 737 programme to its previous pace. It is getting faster and meeting the milestones. They will take (for) catch up... things are just progressively easing up," the Air India CEO and MD said.
