Boeing checks in India will save airline Rs14 Cr

In a period of recession when every rupee saved is a rupee earned, national carrier Air India (A-I) will be able to save Rs12-14 crore by undertaking C-checks of its Boeing 777-200 ER (B777) aircraft in India itself. Earlier, the airline used to send these planes abroad for such checks.

Till January 14, the engineering department of A-I has successfully conducted C-checks on two of its B-777 planes. It has also started a check for a third aircraft. The airline has 14 B-777 aircraft, out of which four were bought on lease four years back and 10 were purchased in July 2007. “We started working on the idea of doing our own C-checks in August 2007 and by the end of December 2008, we did the check on our first B-777 plane,” said KM Unni, a board member of the engineering department.

It took 15 days to complete a check on one plane, he said.

According to the aircraft manufacturer’s direction, a plane has to undergo various levels of maintenance and service measures, which are called checks and they start from level A. For the fleet of B777-200ER aircraft, the first check is called 4A, which is performed after the plane has flown for 2,000 hours or 300 days. 

C-check is the second level of check for B-777, which is done after the plane has flown for 7,500 hours or 750 days. “Since July 2005, when we bought four aircraft on dry lease, we used to send them abroad for C-checks. And the cost incurred on each plane was Rs1 crore approximately,” said an A-I official.

The planes were flown to foreign MROs (maintenance, repair and overhauls) like Singapore airlines, Ameco in Beijing. 

“We are open to doing C-checks for other airlines and will soon start marketing for the
same,” said Jitendra Bhargava, spokesperson for A-I.