Air India buys 6 leased Boeing 777-300 ER planes

New Delhi: Air India has acquired six Boeing 777-300 ER planes that were being operated on lease, marking the purchase of this category of wide-body long range aircraft after more than seven years, according to sources.

The airline's move comes against the backdrop of supply chain constraints delaying deliveries as well as refurbishment works of its legacy wide-body planes.

The loss-making airline, acquired by the Tata Group in January 2022, is undergoing an ambitious five-year transformation plan, and is expanding its fleet as well as network amid rising air traffic demand. Its USD 400 million retrofit programme for 67 wide-body and narrow-body planes is also in progress.

The sources told PTI that Air India has bought the six Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft that were being operated on lease. These planes were earlier operated by Etihad Airways.

The purchase of these planes, having an extended range and deployed for long-haul and ultra-long-haul flights, was completed recently through the airline's wholly-owned subsidiary AI Fleet Services Ltd (AIFS) located in the International Financial Services Centre in GIFT City, Gujarat.

Further, the sources said the lease period of these planes was to end by next year, and then, the lessor would have taken back the aircraft. In order to ensure there is enough capacity, the airline decided to acquire the planes, they added.

Financial details could not be immediately ascertained.

An Air India spokesperson did not offer comments on the deal.

The six leased Boeing 777-300 ER planes started joining Air India fleet in 2023.

These aircraft have a four-class configuration of First, Business, Premium Economy and Economy seats.

This is the first time in more than seven years that Air India has purchased Boeing 777 planes. Back in 2018, the airline, then owned by the government, had taken delivery of its last B777 aircraft as part of an order announced in April 2005.

Since Tata Group started piloting Air India, the airline has placed orders for 570 new aircraft.

The airline has 67 legacy wide-body and narrow-body planes -- 13 B777-300 ERs and 27 B787s. The first of the legacy B787 is set to go for retrofit in June while the refit of all the 27 legacy A320 neo aircraft is expected to be completed by the third quarter of this year.

Air India has 198 planes, of which 106 offer new or upgraded cabin interiors.

"What this means is refurbishing old aircraft in our fleet to install new seats in a three-class cabin configuration, carpets, curtains, lavatories, and more, along with a fresh coat of paint, new livery – all in the new Air India branding," the airline said in a release on April 30.

On March 18, Air India CEO and MD Campbell Wilson talked about the supply situation and said there are pinch points everywhere, such as there are no engines for some narrow-body aircraft, there are issues with seat suppliers as well as availability of components and parts of fuselage.

"Reality is that it is going to remain a supply-constrained market, not just for Air India, India, (I am) talking about worldwide... for another 4-5 years," Wilson had said.

At that time, he had said, "We are victims of the circumstances as is every other airline".

"If you are capacity constrained, you have to be a little bit ruthless with respect to where you deploy your aircraft to maximise the returns. It means you can't expand to places that otherwise you would like to expand. It is not a lot that you can do beyond that.

"We can try to lease aircraft from the external market, but every other airline is trying to do it. Getting one or two aircraft which have a different configuration from the rest of the fleet adds to the complexity rather than advancing you. It is a very significant challenge for the industry as a whole," Wilson said on March 18.