787 Dreamliner set to change Air India's image: Boeing

“Compared to their old A310, the 787 has more range, better fuel burn, lower maintenance cost and great passenger appeal. It will change the fortunes of Air India and that’s why I am so excited,” he said.

A confident Keskar informs that on a 20-year basis, the growth of the aviation market is the highest in India compared to any other part including China. "I think the Indian affluence continues to get better. More and more people have discretionary income that they can use to travel. If you sum all these things up, we are only increasing our forecast going up from USD 150-175 billion. I understand part of that is simply inflation, so we really have upped the forecast very moderately. It isn’t a big jump. The big jumps come when you see GDP growing year after year at 8-9% or double digits, which we haven’t seen here in the last year or two. Overall, I still feel confident about India."

Below is the edited transcript of his interview on CNBC-TV18.

Q: When can we expect the delivery of the 787? I understand that most clearances have come through, but what is the timeline as far as the actual delivery is concerned?

A: It’s well known that we have been ready for the delivery of the 787 since May-end. Right now, we have three airplanes in Charleston all flown by the Air India pilots, looked over by the Air India technicians and engineers and we are eager to deliver those airplanes.
 
I think Air India is going through its final processes, if I may say so, and only they can answer. But I hope it happens soon, because Air India is going to really change its image by the way it gives services to its passengers with this beautiful Dreamliner in their suite.

Q: Is the hold up on account of the incident that we saw during the test flight? We understand that it was an incident that was being probed by both the Indian government as well as the US aviation regulator. Had there been all clearances given on account of the incident that we saw during the test flight?

A: All I can tell you is Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has notified us and the local Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has inspected Air India’s engines and they have cleared all three airplanes for delivery.

Q: There was a lot of back and forth between Boeing as well as the Indian government on the size of the compensation package. Why have both parties decided not to go public with the actual size of the compensation package?

A: It’s the same thing we do around the world, not just India. It is no different than our purchase agreements, which also have a confidentiality clause in it and this is just an extension of the purchase agreement.

Q: The rumoured figure suggested USD 1 billion to start with, then it was USD 840 million. We don’t know what the final figure is, but can you share with us when Air India will start seeing that money come in?

A: Basically, when these things happen, they are negotiated and it is not like a one line agreement. There are a lot of pieces to it. We help Air India with many things. Certainly, they can start seeing this thing at the time of delivery, and in different forms, which is agreed to right now. But it is not one-time, it is over the period when the deliveries occur, which is obviously very standard. Other than that, I can’t tell you anything more.