<p>National carrier Air India today took the delivery of its 18th Dreamliner aircraft from US manufacturer Boeing with which it plans to scale up its Birmingham operations.</p>.<p>The plane, which took off from Boeing's Charleston facility in the US on Thursday, landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here at 3 P.M. today, Air India said in a release here.</p>.<p>The state-run airline had placed orders for 68 aircraft with Boeing in January, 2006, including for 27 Dreamliners and 41 B-777s and B-737-800s. It had taken the delivery of the first 787 Dreamliner in September, 2012.</p>.<p>The new 787 aircraft will be used to begin daily Birmingham operations, which presently run four times a week, the airline said.</p>.<p>Air India now has 18 fuel-efficient Dreamliners in its fleet which cater to its global destinations across Europe, the UK, Far East, South East Asia and Australia.</p>.<p>Besides, some of these planes have also been deployed on domestic routes like Delhi to Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata.</p>.<p>The 787 also have a good seat factor of over 75 per cent on some of the routes which resulted in some of its international loss-making routes covering at least their operating costs.</p>.<p>AI plans to convert the last five Dreamliners into 787-9, which have a longer range and more seating capacity, the airline said, adding that an internal committee has been asked to look into the proposal and submit an evaluation report.</p>.<p>Meanwhile, the 27-member global airline club, 'Star Alliance', of which Air India is now a part, is scheduled to hold its Chief Executive Board meeting in the city from Tuesday.</p>.<p>"The two-day meet will review Air India's performance as an Alliance member besides discussing other issues," an airline official said.</p>.<p>Air India joined Star Alliance as its 27th member in July this year. Star Alliance, which is the world's largest airline grouping, offers 18,043 flights a day to over 1,269 destinations in more than 193 countries.</p>
<p>National carrier Air India today took the delivery of its 18th Dreamliner aircraft from US manufacturer Boeing with which it plans to scale up its Birmingham operations.</p>.<p>The plane, which took off from Boeing's Charleston facility in the US on Thursday, landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here at 3 P.M. today, Air India said in a release here.</p>.<p>The state-run airline had placed orders for 68 aircraft with Boeing in January, 2006, including for 27 Dreamliners and 41 B-777s and B-737-800s. It had taken the delivery of the first 787 Dreamliner in September, 2012.</p>.<p>The new 787 aircraft will be used to begin daily Birmingham operations, which presently run four times a week, the airline said.</p>.<p>Air India now has 18 fuel-efficient Dreamliners in its fleet which cater to its global destinations across Europe, the UK, Far East, South East Asia and Australia.</p>.<p>Besides, some of these planes have also been deployed on domestic routes like Delhi to Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata.</p>.<p>The 787 also have a good seat factor of over 75 per cent on some of the routes which resulted in some of its international loss-making routes covering at least their operating costs.</p>.<p>AI plans to convert the last five Dreamliners into 787-9, which have a longer range and more seating capacity, the airline said, adding that an internal committee has been asked to look into the proposal and submit an evaluation report.</p>.<p>Meanwhile, the 27-member global airline club, 'Star Alliance', of which Air India is now a part, is scheduled to hold its Chief Executive Board meeting in the city from Tuesday.</p>.<p>"The two-day meet will review Air India's performance as an Alliance member besides discussing other issues," an airline official said.</p>.<p>Air India joined Star Alliance as its 27th member in July this year. Star Alliance, which is the world's largest airline grouping, offers 18,043 flights a day to over 1,269 destinations in more than 193 countries.</p>