On July 25, 2012 a Group of Ministers (GoM) decided on the compensation amount that Air India would claim from Aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co. The compensation will be demanded for delaying more than three years in delivering the Dreamliners B787.
At present no one is confirming the exact amount while. But last year the airline’s earlier Chairman and MD, Arvind Jadhav had spoken of more than $700million claim. Initially, it was cited that the delay was due to the production problems which Boeing faced, but then the schedule kept getting stretched for one reason or other.
Last year, at a point the board of directors proposed that just 14 aircrafts will be bought from Boeing instead of the original order of 27, but now all aircrafts on order will be taken. On the other hand the delay wasn’t only on the part of Boeing.
At least three aircrafts were ready last month, but the government of India was not giving the green signal to fly them in India due to the uncertainty of the pilots strike. Ajit Singh the Civil aviation minister said that the compensation issue will now go to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for approval. After the aircrafts arrive the airlines might begin flying to lucrative destinations like Malaysia.
