NEW DELHI: Air India, the country's flagship carrier, on Wednesday received delivery of the first of its planned order of 68 Boeing passenger jetliners at the Indira Gandhi international airport here.

Traditional welcome and revelry was accorded to the mint-fresh Boeing 737-800 aircraft amidst the presence of Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, Air India Chairman-cum-Managing Director V. Thulasidas and Boeing's vice-president (Sales) Dinesh Keskar.

All-economy class

``The last induction of a new aircraft in Air India was in 1996 when we had Boeing 747-400. The new Boeing 737-800 will go to our sister concern Air India Express which operates flights to the Gulf region,'' Mr. Thulasidas told reporters.

The eye-catching design of Gateway of India and India Gate adorns the tail of the new plane, which has an all-economy class configuration to seat 180 passengers.

Second lot this month

He said the carrier was inducting 20 pilots keeping in mind its future aircraft inductions.

Air India had placed an order for 68 aircraft from Boeing in December last at a cost of about $11.6 billion.

``We will continue to hire more pilots as we have many more aircraft to be delivered,'' he said.

The delivery of the second Boeing 737-800 is expected in the third week of December, followed by three more in January 2007.

Mr. Patel said the new aircraft should rejuvenate the State-owned carrier and help it take on the tough competition it faces.

``We need a strong national carrier which can withstand stiff competition in this age of perform or perish,'' he said.

Fears allayed

Allaying fears on the fallout of the proposed merger of Air India and Indian, Mr. Patel said the Government was fully supportive of the future of the merged entity.

Explaining Air India's future deliveries from Boeing, Mr. Thulasidas said the carrier would be getting five more planes this fiscal.

``In the next fiscal we will be getting six wide-bodied 777s and by April 2007 we are aiming to start non-stop India-U.S. flights,'' he said.

Dreamliners

Mr. Thulasidas said the airline would be among the first few carriers in the world to have delivery of Boeing's 787 dreamliner.

``The first of the 23 dreamliners will be received in 2008. In the evolving global civil aviation scenario, that should put us in an advantageous position over competition,'' he added.

Mr. Keskar said Boeing was committed to its India plans and the fresh delivery to Air India marked another milestone in their relationship.

``Our first flight simulator has arrived and the ground breaking for the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility to be built in Nagpur will be held next year,'' he said.

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