AI to wet-lease 4 planes to replace defective aircraft

NEW DELHI: Pushed to the wall by repeated criticism from the travelling public and even the Civil Aviation Minister, Air-India has decided to take four aircraft on wet-lease to replace as many that were plagued by snags.

The state-owned carrier would wet-lease three Airbus A340-300s to be operated on the prime routes to Europe and the US Boeing B767-300 (extended range) for operations on the Kuala Lumpur sector as well as the  umbai-Bangkok-Hong Kong route, Air-India sources said.

The decision comes in the wake of recent instances of flight cancellations and undue delays, which prompted Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel to fly private carrier Jet Airways from London-Heathrow to Delhi last week.

The airline is also understood to be in talks with private carrier Air Sahara to lease a wide-body aircraft.

Air-India has cancelled its flights or reduced the frequencies on some routes, inclduing Amritsar-Birmingham in the past few months.

Some of its long-haul aircraft taken on lease have been developing engine or hydraulic trouble on regular intervals, causing the flights to be delayed or cancelled resulting in the public sector carrier facing the wrath of passengers.