The Hindu Business Line : AI to seek compensation for delay in Boeing 787 delivery

Air India is seeking compensation from the US-based aircraft manufacturer Boeing for the five-month delay in delivery of the Boeing 787 aircraft to the airline.

“Boeing has informed us that our delivery schedule have now been moved from September 2008 to February 2009.

“Air India will seek compensation although the exact details are yet to be finalised. By 2010, the delivery schedule for our Boeing 787 aircraft would be back to what has been decided in 2005,” the airline’s Chairman and Managing Director, Mr V. Thulasidas, told Business Line.

The compensation could either be in the form of seeking cash payment or asking for better delivery schedules, airline officials said.

In December 2005, the airline had ordered 27 Boeing 787 aircraft, popularly called the Dreamliner, as part of a 68-Boeing aircraft deal.

Air India was to be the third global airline to receive the aircraft after All Nippon Airways, which is to be the launch customer.

In October this year, Boeing had announced a six-month delay in the launch of the Boeing 787 aircraft.

In a statement, Boeing announced the delay in its planned initial deliveries of the Boeing 787 due to continued challenges in completing assembly of the first airplanes.

“Deliveries of the Boeing 787 are now slated to begin in late November or December 2008, versus an original target of May 2008. First flight is now anticipated around the end of the first quarter 2008,” the statement adds.

The delay in aircraft delivery means that the airline would have to look for an alternate aircraft to operate flights between India and Japan, the route on which the airline initially planned to deploy the first aircraft.