Air India to get Boeing 787 Dreamliner in June 2010

New Delhi, Apr 7 (PTI) After a delay of almost two years,
Air India will get delivery of its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner
aircraft by June next year, which would enable the national
carrier to have more long-haul international flights.

"The first 787 will be delivered by June 2010," Boeing
International's Vice-President Dinesh Keskar told PTI here,
adding that the aircraft, called the Dreamliner, would enter
into service in the first quarter of calendar 2010, with
Japan's All Nippon Airways being the launch customer.

The first six airplanes are now in different stages of
production and flight tests at Boeing's assembly plant at
Everett in the United States. The 787 Dreamliner has orders
for 895 airplanes from 58 airlines, with Air India ordering 27
of them and Jet Airways ten.

Replying to questions, Keskar said the premier aircraft
manufacturing company would be delivering six aircraft to Air
India in 2010. While the delivery of other aircraft that were
part of the 68-aircraft deal with Boeing has started, the
delivery of the Dreamliner, now expected by June 2010, was
earlier scheduled for September 2008.

Asked by when all the 27 B-787s would be delivered to Air
India, Keskar did not give a definite time-frame but said the
deliveries would be scaled up as the production operations for
the aircraft gets better.

The production delay was unlikely to result in any
setback for the planned delivery for Jet Airways, which is
slated to receive the first of the ten planes only in 2011.
Air India and Jet Airways are the only two airlines from India
to order the aircraft.

For Air India, the 787 would act as a fuel-efficient
workhorse for launching new flights on dense routes of the US,
Europe and Africa, besides East Asia and Australia.

The Dreamliner's B-787-8 model will be able to carry
210-250 passengers on routes of 7,500-8,200 nautical miles or
14,200-15,200 km, while the 787-9 Dreamliner will fly 250-290
passengers on routes of 8,000-8,500 nautical miles
(14,800-15,750 km).

A third 787 family member, the 787-3 Dreamliner, will
accommodate 290-330 passengers and be optimised for routes of
2,500-3,050 nautical miles (4,600-5,650 km), the Boeing
company said.

In addition to bringing big jet ranges to mid-size
airplanes, the 787s would provide airlines with unmatched fuel
efficiency, resulting in exceptional environmental
performance.

The airplane will use 20 per cent less fuel for
comparable missions than today's similarly sized airplane. It
will also travel at speeds similar to today's fastest wide
bodies, Mach 0.85, the company said.

Passengers will also see improvements with the new
airplane, from an interior environment with higher humidity to
increased comfort and convenience, Boeing said. PTI ARC
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