Air India's four Boeing 747 jumbo jets that were not in operation since February 2020 have been deregistered by the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), sources said on April 27, as reported by PTI. Planes as old as these 747s consume a huge amount of fuel and require extensive maintenance, they said. It is not clear what will be done with these four planes now, they added.
The salt-to-software conglomerate is expected to put in a fresh order with either Boeing or Airbus for new wide-bodied aircraft for Air India, the sources said. Till about two years ago, the aforementioned 747s were being used to operate international flights for top dignitaries such as president, prime minister and vice president.
When they were not in service of dignitaries, the four jumbo jets were being used for international commercial passenger flights.
Tata Group took control of Air India on January 27 after successfully winning the bid for the airline on October 8 last year. Tata currently has Air India and Vistara in its fleet, however, the company is in talking terms with the CCI to acquire AirAsia India.
(With inputs from PTI)
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