NEW DELHI: The Tata Group has started bringing back into service Air India’s grounded wide body aircraft, enabling it to expand the airline’s international footprint in the weather long interim period of new planes like the Airbus A350s being ordered and then joining the fleet. Accordingly, the Maharaja will have a daily service between Delhi and Vancouver from August 31, increasing from the current thrice-weekly on this sector.
AI’s widebody fleet currently stands at 43 aircraft, of which 33 are operational. The airline says this “is a significant improvement from 28 aircraft that the airline was operating till recently. The remaining aircraft will be progressively returned to service by early 2023.”
“Manufacturer Boeing has been working closely with Air India following its acquisition by Tata Group to restore aircraft that had been grounded for prolonged periods due to the Covid-19 pandemic and other reasons. The progressive restoration of these aircraft has already allowed AI to increase schedule resilience and will allow further frequency and network increases over the coming months,” AI said in a statement.
