In a major setback to Air India (AI), the government has allowed Japan Airlines (JAL) to fly its state-of-the-art aircraft Boeing 787 Dreamliners on the New Delhi-Tokyo route from May before the Indian national carrier could launch its Dreamliner flights.
With this, Japan Airlines will become the first carrier to fly Boeing 787 Dreamliners out of India, something that AI had wanted to do .
"We have lost the opportunity to become the first carrier to operate Dreamliners from any Indian airport. But we are once again gearing up after the JAL's announcement today," a top airline official said. "The move is definitely not in Air India's interest. The government should have considered our request in this regard. This would have helped us," he added.
Making matters worse for the Indian carrier, JAL has been given a prime time slot which is an hour before AI on the Delhi-Tokyo route. AI officials say they will lose passengers to JAL because of the time schedule as well. While JAL Dreamliners will take off from New Delhi for Tokyo at 10.30 pm, AI will fly an hour later at 11.40 pm. JAL, on the other hand, has reason to celebrate. "Our load factor is around 70 per cent. We will be the first carrier to fly Dreamliners in India. We are very hopeful about our India operations as we have growing business ties with India," said Yasushi Isomura, country manager-India for JAL.
The Dreamliner is considered to be a game changer for the ailing national carrier. The airline is banking heavily on it and has pinned all its hope of revival and turnaround on this flying machine. AI is preparing a separate team of pilots, crew members, engineers and support staff for 27 Dreamliners.
The first two will arrive from Boeing's brand new plant in South Carolina, US, by May-end.
With this, Japan Airlines will become the first carrier to fly Boeing 787 Dreamliners out of India, something that AI had wanted to do .
"We have lost the opportunity to become the first carrier to operate Dreamliners from any Indian airport. But we are once again gearing up after the JAL's announcement today," a top airline official said. "The move is definitely not in Air India's interest. The government should have considered our request in this regard. This would have helped us," he added.
Making matters worse for the Indian carrier, JAL has been given a prime time slot which is an hour before AI on the Delhi-Tokyo route. AI officials say they will lose passengers to JAL because of the time schedule as well. While JAL Dreamliners will take off from New Delhi for Tokyo at 10.30 pm, AI will fly an hour later at 11.40 pm. JAL, on the other hand, has reason to celebrate. "Our load factor is around 70 per cent. We will be the first carrier to fly Dreamliners in India. We are very hopeful about our India operations as we have growing business ties with India," said Yasushi Isomura, country manager-India for JAL.
The Dreamliner is considered to be a game changer for the ailing national carrier. The airline is banking heavily on it and has pinned all its hope of revival and turnaround on this flying machine. AI is preparing a separate team of pilots, crew members, engineers and support staff for 27 Dreamliners.
The first two will arrive from Boeing's brand new plant in South Carolina, US, by May-end.
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