State-run Air India will add as many as 50 aircraft to its existing fleet in the next five-six years as it looks to expand its operations, both domestic and international, in its quest to turn profitable by flying to more destinations and carrying more passengers.

The airline, which currently has 102 aircraft in its fleet, excluding that of its subsidiary Alliance Air, plans to increase its fleet size to 152 by 2021.

Air India (AI) is considering acquiring five Boeing 787-9 aircraft for flights to the US and Canada.

At present, it uses both narrow-body Airbus A320 and wide-body Boeing planes (747-400s, 777s and 787-8) on international routes. The 787-9 variant has a higher range and 40 more seats over the 787-8.

National carrier Air India on Wednesday said it was seeking offers for financing of six Boeing 787 (Dreamliner) aircraft under a sale and lease back (SLB) arrangement for $720 million (Rs 5,000 crore).

Under the arrangement, Air India would sell the six planes to the lessor and immediately lease them back under an operating lease for 12 years with an option to extend, the carrier said in a tender statement. “Air India has fixed a reserve purchase price of $120 million (Rs 750 crore) for each aircraft,” the tender said.

Air India has taken delivery of its 20th Dreamliner from US manufacturer Boeing, a milestone which it said highlights their "successful partnership".

Boeing's delivery of the 20th 787 Dreamliner was made from its final assembly facility in North Charleston in the state of South Carolina.

Air India conducted a survey among employees earlier this month seeking feedback on their salary packages, the company’s promotion polices and the effectiveness of senior management, among others.

This was first such human resource (HR) exercise to gauge employee satisfaction after the merger between Air India and Indian Airlines in 2007. Integration of workforce has been a thorny issue and a cause of litigation and strikes. The survey also sought know what employees think about the merger.

Voicing its concern over the 26-year-old fleet of Airbus A320s in the national carrier Air India, one of its pilots’ union has sought grounding of these planes from aviation regulator DGCA.

The Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), which represents erstwhile Indian Airlines pilots in the now combined entity Air India, has said the airline continues to fly these A320s even after snags being reported regularly.

In a bid to drastically cut down the number of recognised unions in the airline to two from the current 15, Air India has appointed a four-member committee headed by former labour secretary Krishna Mohan Sahni to hold fresh elections by July this year.

Besides Sahni, other members of the committee include Raja Sridhar, executive board member, International Transport Workers’ Federation, retired chief labour commissioner S K Mukhopadhya and Ajit Nigam (advisor, HR, Ircon International).

National carrier Air India is expected to cut its net loss by about a third to Rs 3,500 crore during Fy16 as a result of a significant reduction in fuel costs and improvement in operating performance, two airline officials told FE on Wednesday, quoting the airline’s recently released budget estimates.

The airline expects an operating profit of about Rs 10 crore during Fy16, its first annual operating profit since the implementation of the government-approved turnaround plan (TAP) in 2012.

Mumbai: Air India Ltd, the country’s largest airline by fleet size, is expected to post a small operating profit in the year starting 1 April, in a first sign that the ailing national carrier is beginning to turn around.

Most of the national flag airline’s units, including its ground-handling business, regional airline operations and international low-fare services, are also expected to post net profit for the next financial year, according to Air India’s budget estimates for the next financial year.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) recently issued show-cause notices to a little over two and a half dozen Air India pilots for reporting late. The regulator said they did not follow regulations and the airline’s operation manual on reporting time, adding that was tantamount to a violating safety. Pilots, however, contend this might be outside DGCA’s remit.

DGCA sent the notice after surprise checks at Mumbai and Delhi airports earlier this month. Last month, it sent a notice to a Jet Airways pilot for being late by 10 minutes. This comes in the wake of the Air India management’s move to cut salaries of staff responsible for flight delays.

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