The Air India board on Thursday remained divided over the issue of deferring the almost $5-billion order to buy 27 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircrafts.
The top management discussed the pros and cons of delaying the order at its meeting in the Capital and decided to convey it to a committee of officers headed by special secretary (expenditure) Vilasini Ramachandran in the finance ministry.
?The issue of deferment was discussed at the meeting. Bharat Bhushan (the government nominee on the Air India board) wanted to know how the airline planned to finance the Boeing order. To this one of the functional directors in the airline said that the carrier was getting a very low-cost loan from the US-based EXIM Bank,? a top official present at the board meeting told FE.
While a section of the government wants Air India to either cancel or defer the jet order in the face of the cash crunch, some of the senior airline officials in the operations department are keen to take the delivery of the medium-haul aircraft. ?We are of the view that the airline should take the delivery of at least those aircrafts for which it has already tied up with financial institutions for long-term loans. Since the current market price of the aircraft is much higher compared to what Air India had negotiated, the airline can command a premium by selling it,? an airline official said.
The official, however, added that B787 was a perfect fit in the airline fleet as Air India currently does not have medium-haul jets.
When contacted, Boeing India president Dinesh Keskar said that he had not yet heard anything officially from Air India on the deferment of the order.
The Air India board also took note of the modified turnaround plan prepared by consultancy firm SBI Caps. The airline management also reviewed its financial performance in August. ?The airline revenue increased to R998 crore in August, up 12.3% over the corresponding month last year. The passenger load factor increased to 70% during this period from 67.7%,? Air India said in a statement.
