Air India to bring all 17 grounded aircraft back into operation by October

India’s national carrier Air India is planning to bring all of its 17 aircraft, which have been grounded for a prolonged period, back into operation by October-end. This was revealed by Ashwani Lohani, chairman and managing director (CMD) of Air India. These 17 aircraft have been grounded for time periods ranging from four months to one year due to lack of funds for their repair and maintenance.

“We plan to retrieve all 17 prolonged grounded aircraft by the end of October. According to the plan, eight of the 17 aircraft would be put back into operation by the end of August itself. These eight aircraft include four from A320 family, one B747, one B777 and two B787s,” he said.

“Aiming for revenue maximisation.”

Remaining nine aircraft – all of them belonging to A320 family would be retrieved by the end of the October if the airline receives the funds for maintenance in time. “We are aiming for revenue maximisation. Therefore, we plan to put the retrieved aircraft back into operation as soon as possible,” Lohani said.

Air India plans to use these aircraft on the new routes where it will start flying soon, he added.