By Santanu Choudhury
NEW DELHI--National carrier Air India Ltd. will need to add more
planes to expand its share in the local market as well as
internationally, India's aviation minister said Wednesday.
The state-run airline has set up a committee headed by its
chairman, Rohit Nandan, to look into its future requirement for
planes, Ajit Singh told reporters. He didn't elaborate.
Mr. Singh was speaking at an event to announce the induction of
Air India's first Boeing Dreamliner plane.
Inducting the Dreamliners will almost complete the airline's
current aircraft-acquiring process which started in 2005-2006 with
orders of 111 planes to Boeing and its European rival, Airbus. The
airline still has to get 26 Dreamliners and three Boeing 777
planes.
Air India is expected to take the delivery of five more
Dreamliner planes this year and the rest by 2016.
The financially struggling carrier has in the last few years
lost considerable share of the market, due to the entry of new
airlines, especially low-fare carriers such as IndiGo and SpiceJet
Ltd.
Write to Santanu Choudhury at santanu.choudhury@dowjones.com
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