Air India's Dreamliner deliveries delayed by two months

New Delhi: After experiencing an aborted maiden flight, Air India's Boeing 787 Dreamliner deliveries have now been pushed back a full two months to December. They were due for delivery in October.

''We have been informed that the first two 787s, which were to be delivered in October, will come in December because of delays in receiving clearances from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA),'' a senior Air India official has been quoted as saying.

Air India will be the second international airline to take delivery of these much-anticipated aircraft after launch customer All Nippon Airways (ANA).

The delivery of Dreamliners is critical to Air India's turnaround plans as it is operating medium-haul sectors with larger aircraft like the Boeing 777s. A large aircraft like the B777 requires load factors in the range of 90s to make a route profitable, officials said.

Once AI takes delivery of 787s it will begin to operate services to key markets such as Malaysia, Hong Kong, Osaka, Jakarta, Dubai and Frankfurt.

Meanwhile, AI officials have also confirmed that intense negotiations are on with Boeing for the quantum of compensation to be paid to AI for the near three-year delay in delivery of these aircraft. Officials said that AI's revenue loss estimates for the delay in delivery of 787s is about Rs6,000 crore.