Air India's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Campbell Wilson on October 13 told employees that Air India has taken deliveries of five narrow-body Airbus planes so far, with the latest the A320neo, the VT-RTF, joining its fleet this week.
"This week saw the arrival of yet another aircraft – the first of 21 A320neos (VT-RTF) from the 25 narrow bodes we committed to leasing late last year," Campbell wrote in this weekly email to employees on October 13.
He added that so far the Tata Group airline has taken delivery of four Airbus A321neos and one Airbus A320neos, while the remaining 20 will arrive in India by August 2024.
Campbell also said that Air India's second A350, the VT-JRB, is now undergoing livery changes and other modifications in Airbus's headquarters in Toulouse France and will arrive in India by January 2024.
The new Air India CEO also thanked Air India's risk monitoring and fraud prevention unit adding that the team has prevented revenue loss of over Rs 3 crore in the last 18 months.
"Erstwhile Air India was somewhat of an easy target in the past but, as we completely modernise our systems, this is no longer the case – and with our continued investment in state-of-the-art capabilities, we will increasingly be able to turn the tables on criminals," Wilson said.
In September 2022, Air India announced its first major fleet expansion plan since its acquisition by the Tata Group in January 2022. It had announced plans to induct 30 aircraft in its fleet by 2023 as it eyed expansion and fleet revamp.
The new aircraft were set to enter the airline’s fleet in late 2022 and were set to increase the airline’s fleet size by 25 percent. This included 21 Airbus A320neos, 4 Airbus A321neos and 5 Boeing B777-200LRs.
Air India last month set up set up a leasing unit at IFSC Gift City in Gujarat.
Air India has a fleet size of 113 aircraft of which 87 planes were operational as of September. These included 54 narrow-body airplanes and 33 wide-body aircraft. The inoperative 16 narrow-body aircraft and 10 wide-body aircraft are expected to return to service by early 2023.
With an ageing fleet, the airline has to refurbish planes consistently. As of date, the airline has to refurbish nine more grounded aircraft and 19 aircraft, which were previously grounded have returned to the skies.
With the latest announcement, the fleet size of Air India will increase to 149 from 113 currently.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
