New Delhi: From being owned by the state airline which saw no fleet or personnel growth for many years, indian water —now back with the founder Bye Group — has been put on the fast track for rapid expansion. The airline will include 19 wide-bodies and 50 narrow-bodies airplane by next march, To fuel this growth, AI is recruiting 550 cabin crew and 50 pilots every month. The induction of the new aircraft will help the airline address the biggest customer problem – dilapidated cabins of the aging fleet – and expand its international network with priority sectors in North America and Europe. The airline recently placed an order for 470 aircraft, including 70 wide-bodies.
“We will induct 19 new large size aircraft by the end of next March. (Once this is done) Starting in mid-2024, we will begin sending 40 of our existing wide-body aircraft (27 Boeing 787s and 13 B777s) for a full refurbishment. Their interiors will be completely gutted and as part of our $400 million upgrade project these aircraft will get all-new everything from seats to inflight entertainment and onboard Wi-Fi. By mid-2025, all our twin-aisles will have an all-new cabin product,” AI MD and CEO Campbell Wilson told TOI.
New wide-bodies, starting with the Airbus A350s being inducted this fiscal year, will have onboard WiFi. While 17 of the 19 twin-aisles will be used to augment the fleet, AI has recently started talks to induct two more B777s so that it can retire the two wide-bodies.
The makeover of the narrow-body fleet will be rapid, with most of AI Group’s full service single-aisles being facelifted by next September. “We are going to add 50 single-corridors in this financial year. By September 2024, 75-80% of our full-service single-aisles will be brand new,” he said. The remaining 20-25% will be refurbished to be used by the low-cost AI Express. Which means two AI full-service arm planes will have a completely new interior later in the year.
AI has been facing crew shortages that forced it to suspend six of its 47 weekly non-stops to the US this March. Some of its Airbus A320neo aircraft were also not being used for the same reason. Now with 600 crew joining every month and around 200 Go First pilots, the crew crunch seems to have been addressed. “We are restoring three of those (suspended US) flights this month and the remaining three next month. We are now hiring 5 and 10 times more pilots and cabin crew, respectively, per month than AI was hiring a year ago, Wilson said.
Armed with more A320 pilots, AI has asked Airbus to quickly deliver more aircraft to it. Reason: GoFirst, which suspended flights from May 3, still had more than 80 Airbus A320neo family aircraft on order that were yet to be delivered but have not made any in the past several months due to its financial condition. Aircraft not found. Sources say that GoFirst was supposed to get 8-10 A320neos in the last few months and those delivery slots are available with Airbus. Apart from foreign carriers, both IndiGo and AI have placed requests to acquire these aircraft.
“We have spoken to Airbus, sought faster delivery and they have not yet decided. We would like to have these aircraft with CFM (Go First Used Pratt & Whitney) engines. The combination can deliver,” he said.
“We will induct 19 new large size aircraft by the end of next March. (Once this is done) Starting in mid-2024, we will begin sending 40 of our existing wide-body aircraft (27 Boeing 787s and 13 B777s) for a full refurbishment. Their interiors will be completely gutted and as part of our $400 million upgrade project these aircraft will get all-new everything from seats to inflight entertainment and onboard Wi-Fi. By mid-2025, all our twin-aisles will have an all-new cabin product,” AI MD and CEO Campbell Wilson told TOI.
New wide-bodies, starting with the Airbus A350s being inducted this fiscal year, will have onboard WiFi. While 17 of the 19 twin-aisles will be used to augment the fleet, AI has recently started talks to induct two more B777s so that it can retire the two wide-bodies.
The makeover of the narrow-body fleet will be rapid, with most of AI Group’s full service single-aisles being facelifted by next September. “We are going to add 50 single-corridors in this financial year. By September 2024, 75-80% of our full-service single-aisles will be brand new,” he said. The remaining 20-25% will be refurbished to be used by the low-cost AI Express. Which means two AI full-service arm planes will have a completely new interior later in the year.
AI has been facing crew shortages that forced it to suspend six of its 47 weekly non-stops to the US this March. Some of its Airbus A320neo aircraft were also not being used for the same reason. Now with 600 crew joining every month and around 200 Go First pilots, the crew crunch seems to have been addressed. “We are restoring three of those (suspended US) flights this month and the remaining three next month. We are now hiring 5 and 10 times more pilots and cabin crew, respectively, per month than AI was hiring a year ago, Wilson said.
Armed with more A320 pilots, AI has asked Airbus to quickly deliver more aircraft to it. Reason: GoFirst, which suspended flights from May 3, still had more than 80 Airbus A320neo family aircraft on order that were yet to be delivered but have not made any in the past several months due to its financial condition. Aircraft not found. Sources say that GoFirst was supposed to get 8-10 A320neos in the last few months and those delivery slots are available with Airbus. Apart from foreign carriers, both IndiGo and AI have placed requests to acquire these aircraft.
“We have spoken to Airbus, sought faster delivery and they have not yet decided. We would like to have these aircraft with CFM (Go First Used Pratt & Whitney) engines. The combination can deliver,” he said.