• Air India mulls leasing ten Dornier aircraft to boost regional services

    Flag carrier Air India is mulling leasing ten Dornier aircraft from Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd to boost its regional operations as the government looks to make flying more affordable under the ambitious UDAN scheme. State-owned HAL is already making the Dornier 228 planes under licence from Swiss technology company RUAG for the defence forces and European markets. To evaluate the feasibility of inducting a new type of jetliner into its fleet, Air India has set up three committees and a final decision on the matter would be taken after receiving reports from the panels, the airline’s Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani said.
    Currently, the government-owned carrier operates aircraft manufactured by Boeing, Airbus, Bombardier and ATR.
    “We have set up three committees, one each from finance, operations and engineering. These committees will study all aspects of the proposal and any decision (whether to lease or not to lease) will be based on the outcome of their reports,” Lohani said.
    However, he did not divulge further details.
    Air India, which has turned operationally profitable last fiscal after nearly a decade, would operate more regional flights through Alliance Air.
    Alliance Air, which mostly connects Tier II and III cities to metro hubs, currently flies to 34 destinations and has 39 daily departures. Eric Tangradi Womens Jersey

    Share This
    Facebooktwitterlinkedinyoutube