New Delhi: Air India intends to add wide-body aircraft to its fleet in order to increase its network. By the beginning of 2023, a total of 10 grounded aircraft will be put back into service.
Because of its larger fuel tank, wide-body aircraft are typically used for long haul international flights, such as those between India and the United States and Canada.
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," said the airline. Wide body aircraft usually have twin aisle and mostly provide seven or more seats abreast.
The airline on Sunday also announced that it will operate daily flights between Delhi and Vancouver (Canada) from August 31 onwards. Currently, it operates Delhi-Vancouver service three times per week. Frequency on this route has been increased keeping in view the growing traffic between India and Canada and has been enabled by the return to service of the wide-body Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft.
The airline claimed that after the airline being acquired by Tata Group, Boeing had been collaborating closely with Air India to repair aircraft that had been grounded for an extended period of time due to the Covid-19 epidemic and other factors.
The Tata Group acquired control of Air India on January 27 of this year after making a successful bid on the airline on October 8 of last year.
(With inputs from IANS)