Air India is gearing up for the delivery of its first Dreamliner aircraft, which is scheduled to arrive at the end of this month.
As reported earlier (see story here), the carrier’s first Boeing B787 aircraft touched down at New Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport in March as a static display before being flown over to Hyderabad for the India Aviation 2012 event.
Though the carrier has not revealed the interior of the aircraft, it has announced the configuration: a total of 256 seats will be split into two classes with 18 seats in business class and 238 seats in economy.
According to local media, the carrier will deploy the aircraft on domestic routes first before using it on long-haul international routes, although exact details of which routes will be served by the Dreamliner have not been confirmed.
This announcement comes at a difficult time for the cash-strapped national carrier as its pilots continue to strike, a move which has heavily affected the airline's international services (see story here). Air India's problems even caused civil aviation minister Ajit Singh to cancel plans to visit Seattle and officially receive the carrier.
For more information, visit www.airindia.in
Alisha Haridasani
