The over 25-year-old fleet of jumbo jets used for distant overseas tours of Presidents and Prime Ministers is not going to be replaced by brand new planes. In a bid to avoid spending millions on mint fresh planes, the Modi government has decided to take two Boeing 777s which are already flying with Air India.
AI has 15 B-777s in its fleet. “Two of the youngest B-777 300 extended range (ER) aircraft from this fleet will be transferred to the defence ministry by October 1. These two planes joined our fleet in 2010 and have been flying with us almost five years.
Defence authorities will give the written down value of these planes, estimated to be $100-105 million each, to AI, which will in turn use the money to pay off the aircraft loan for these two aircraft.
The NDA’s decision to go in for AI’s used planes as the next Air Force One — VVIP flights operated by Indian Air Force using AI pilots of B-777 will no longer be AI One — comes even as the government had the option to go in for brand new B-777s for VVIP use.
As part of its mega 111-aircraft order placed in 2007-end, AI had ordered 23 B-777s. “Three of the B-777 300 ERs are yet to be delivered by Boeing and these planes could have been expeditiously sought for VVIP use. But that would have cost a lot more.
“We are now going to convert the order for these three wide-body planes into the order for 10 to 11 narrow-body Boeing 737 Max for AI Express which currently has 17 aircraft. The low cost carrier is leasing eight B-737s and its fleet will rise to 25. The 10-11 replacement B-737 Max ordered in place of three B-777s will take its fleet up to 35, which is considered the right size for that airline,” said the official.
“The old Boeing 747s being used today for long international flights by the PM are perfectly safe to fly but due to their advanced age, they are fuel guzzlers. Also, they can’t fly nonstop to distant places like the Americas. During the 10-year-long Manmohan Singh’s prime ministerial period, the one-stop flight to distant destinations worked well as the then PM was more comfortable with a break on long journeys. PM Modi, on the other hand, is extremely energetic and can do long journeys nonstop without any fatigue on the B-777s,” said a highly placed source.
In fact, AI had last winter asked the government to expeditiously decide on the next VVIP planes so that it could decide with its remaining order of the three B-777s. The airline had felt that if the government decides for B-777s, it would take two brand new planes from its order for exclusive VVIP use. Else, it would convert the order for smaller narrow-body aircraft.
Source from India Defence News.
