Air India To Take Delivery Of Four More Dreamliner Aircraft This Year

New Delhi: Air India is scheduled to take delivery of the four remaining Dreamliner aircraft - Boeing 787-8 planes - this year with the last one to be delivered in October.

The national carrier has acquired 23 Dreamliner aircraft during the period from September 2012 to January 9, 2017, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha told the Lok Sabha even as he acknowledged the aircraft "have experienced technical reliability issues" since induction into the fleet.

"One B787-8 aircraft will be delivered in July 2017, two B787-8 aircraft in August 2017 and one B787-8 aircraft will be delivered in October 2017," Mr Sinha said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

According to him, the technical reliability issues do not adversely affect the safety of the airplane due to the system design and in-built system redundancy.

"Further, regular improvements are incorporated as a part of reliability enhancement process," he added.

In a separate written reply, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said the system reliability issues on the Dreamliner aircraft are caused by airplane software as well as failures of some of the components of airplane and engine.

"These issues are resolved in consultation and with assistance from airplane manufacturer Boeing and engine manufacturer General Electric," he noted.

This month, Air India started operations on Delhi-Kochi-Dubai-Kochi as well as Kochi-Delhi route with B-787 aircraft.