Air India Leases Dozen Airbus, Boeing Aircraft

The leased Airbus A320neos and Boeing 777-300ERs are to help Air India's plans to grow its 2023 network.

DALLAS — Air India (AI) will lease six Airbus A320neos and six Boeing 777-300ERs as part of its recently announced expansion, which includes an increase in the number of flights to cities in Europe and North America.

According to the airline, the A320neos will be used on domestic and short-to-medium-haul international routes. while the Boeing 777s will fly in a four-class configuration from major Indian cities to long-haul international locations. AI added that it had brought 19 grounded jets back into service and will soon bring nine more online.

The Delhi-based airline announced that the new aircraft would be introduced before June 2023. The announcement comes less than six months after an earlier fleet expansion plan that saw it lease 25 A320neo family aircraft and five 777-200LR aircraft.

Air India is also a member of the Star Alliance. Photo: Yifei Yu/Airways.

Air India's Aggressive Expansion

Tata Group-owned carrier Air India (AI) aims to grow its US network with the addition of two routes from Mumbai (BOM), starting with a San Francisco (SFO) service commencing December 15, 2022, and later with a New York (JFK) service beginning February 14, 2023.

There is an increase in nonstop capacity between India and North America. To effectively expand its presence in the US market, AI announced two weeks ago that it would lease 30 new aircraft over a 15-month period.

The new routes are long-haul operations, and therefore the Triple Sevens will be used to conduct the flights. The SFO route includes three flights per week and will become the third route to the city for the Star Alliance member—the other two services include 10 weekly flights from Delhi (DEL) and a three-weekly service from Bengaluru (BLR).

https://airwaysmag.com/air-india-and-vistara-to-merge/

Featured image: Air India VT-ALN Boeing 777-337(ER). Photo: Alberto Cucini/Airways

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