The Hindu : National : NACIL likely to augment domestic services

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 21, 2007
ePaper

National

National

NACIL likely to augment domestic services

Staff Reporter

Working on a draft to review fleet strategy for six years post-2011

Acquisition of 111 aircraft will be completed by 2011, says AI CMD Thulasidas
Air India Express to retain its name

KOCHI: The National Aviation Company of India Ltd. (NACIL), born out of the merger of Air India and Indian, is working on a draft to review the fleet strategy for six years post-2011, V. Thulasidas, Chairman and Managing Director of Air India, told a press conference here on Monday.

“The draft to be complete within the next one to two months will be placed before the government for approval,” Mr. Thulasidas said.

The draft proposed to augment domestic services, considering the phenomenal growth in the area. It discussed the proposal for enlisting Air India Express for domestic services.

He said acquisition of 111 aircraft, 68 by Air India and 43 by Indian, would be completed by 2011. The NACIL would then have a fleet strength of 135 aircraft.

Mr. Thulasidas said a formal announcement of NACIL joining a global alliance of airlines would be made in two months.

The three largest alliances were the Star Alliance, SkyTeam and Oneworld. He, however, declined to reveal which alliance the NACIL was joining. “It is an announcement to be made jointly with the alliance partners concerned,” he said.

He said joining a global alliance would bring many benefits to passengers. They would be able to use the extensive network of the alliance partners. Passengers enjoying frequent-flyer status with one airline would be able to avail themselves of it on the flights of others.

He said though the merger of Air India and Indian was over in the legal sense, according to Accenture, the consultant, the physical integration would be completed in 18 to 24 months. Integration of the various wings was under way.

While Air India Express would retain its name, other international and domestic services would be under the common name Air India. Air India has placed orders for 68 aircraft from Boeing, including 18 B 737-800 for Air India Express, 23 B777 ERs and LRs for long-haul operations and 27 B 787 Dreamliners. The Dreamliners would be deployed for Gulf services. Indian had ordered 43 aircraft from Airbus Industrie, comprising A 320, A 319 and A 321.

He said acquiring two types of aircraft did not pose a challenge. “All major airlines of the world had both types of aircraft on their fleet,” Mr. Thulasidas said. The pilots, crew and engineers need to secure separate permission and brief training to work on each type, he added.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National