Air India to ground 2 Boeing- 747 despite of $4.5 billion bailout.

State owned aviation company Air India was forced to ground two 747 dreamliner aircrafts despite of a $4.5 billion bailout from the government.  The planes were grounded because of lack of spare parts and was not able to cover the repair cost of these aircrafts. In a statement given to the Indian parliament , Junior Aviation Minister Mahesh Sharma said that due to financial crunch the engineering department was not able to buy relevant parts from Japan and was paying an additional  parking of $1 million every month for past 10 months.

The carrier has been in losses from the day it was merged from Domestic Carrier Indian Airlines. It amounts to 35% of the total market share and is facing stiff competition from other carriers like Jet Airways and Indigo Airlines.

Advertisement

Boeing readies dreamliner 787-10 design.

Boeing is ready with the new design of dreamliner 787 -10. The company achieved the target two years ahead of the schedule and the requirement for fabrication has been raised. This will be a major achievement for the company’s most selling aircraft.  The company plans to launch the new aircraft by 2017 and plans deliveries by 2018.

With the 787-10, we are building upon our experience and the 787-9 design itself to create this newest member of the super-efficient 787 family,” said Ken Sanger, vice president of 787 Airplane Development .Through our dedicated team and our disciplined processes, we have optimized the design for the needs of the market and are excited as we look forward to production.”

The new model will be an extension of the existing Boeing 787-9 design and plans to improve the efficiency and reduce the operational cost and risk for its production. The new design will be 95% similar to the existing one except for changes in the manufacturing process implemented by the company. The new aircraft would be able to travel 6,430 nautical miles (11,910 km) and will be 25% more efficient from the existing models.

Air India sells its aircraft to reduce debt.

In a move to reduce its  debt burned , Air India sold 9 of its Boeing dream liner aircrafts for a whooping 7000 crores. The company sold these aircrafts in order to reduce the bridge loan the company has raised in order to buy these aircrafts. This is a modern day strategy followed by many airlines where the company sells its aircraft to lease it back for a longer period so that it can use it. The company followed the strategy in order to reduce its debt burden which it has accumulated over a very long period.

Air India has 131 aircrafts in total from various manufacturers like Boeing , Airbus, ATR and CRJ’s. In a statement given to PTI Air India sources said “Air India has sold all the nine Dream liners to one Singaporean lessor for a little over Rs 7,000 crore. These planes have now been taken back on lease by the same firm.” The company said that it will use Rs6,000 crore to repay the bridge loan while the remaining amount will be used for other purposes.

Air India is currently suffering from a huge debt situation due to increase in competition and a total debt of Rs 40000 it has accumulated in last few years. The silver lining to this story is that the company will show a positive quarter with Rs 6 crore operating profit. The company is surviving on a bailout package provided by the Indian government and hopes to make some profit in the near future.