Stung by persistent
snags in its Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet, Air India (AI) has summoned a
team of Boeing engineers to India ahead of the state-of-the-art
aircraft’s planned maiden flight in AI’s Delhi-London route on December
2. “A team of engineers from Boeing are expected to come to India
shortly to sort out the snags. We are in regular correspondence with
Boeing on this matter,” said an Air India spokesperson from Mumbai.
The
first of AI’s Dreamliners arrived on September 8 and since then two
more of these next generation flying machines have joined AI’s fleet.
But
the futuristic aircraft, which came after a delay of almost four years,
have been plagued by what sources have described as “teething
problems”.
In one of its first flights from New Delhi to
Bangalore in September, the cooling system of the Dreamliner failed. The
plane, which was taxiing for take-off was forced to return back to the
bay following the glitch, resulting in a delay by about two hours.
At
any given point in time, at least one of the three Dreamliners in AI’s
fleet currently, is reported to be grounded due to some technical snag.
This has affected
AI’s 787 scheduling for the domestic sector with delays becoming a routine in most sectors where the aircraft has been deployed.
Boeing did not respond to HT's email and text messages.
AI
operated its first long haul flight with the new Dreamliner aircraft
from Delhi to Frankfurt in October. Till now these aircraft, configured
to accommodate 256 seats —18 Business Class and 238 Economy Class seats —
were being deployed on the domestic sectors apart from operations
between Delhi and Dubai.
According to the original schedule, the
first 27 Dreamliners that AI had ordered, was to be delivered in
September 2008 followed by one each in each of the subsequent months.
Sources
said the Dreamliners are overweight by around 7.5 tonnes, from its
initial design. The extra weight is also likely to reduce the fuel
efficiency than what was originally perceived, sources said.
AI
had demanded a compensation of around $850 million (about Rs. 4,600
crore) from Boeing. The final amount, negotiated by the two sides, has
not been disclosed.
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