Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 25 (IANS) The Air India board will meet Monday to decide on the induction date of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner into the carrier’s fleet and a voluntary retirement scheme for employees, a senior official said Friday.

“Our board will meet on Monday to decide the arrival date of the 787. We have received reports from our pilots and engineers who are currently in the US on the performance of the aircraft,” a senior Air India official told IANS.

There were reports that the Dreamliner’s arrival will not take place June 1, 2012 as scheduled.

“Other issues like the VRS scheme and the interim route management plan in the current situation are also expected to be discussed.”

The meeting was supposed to take place Thursday (May 24) but was postponed for next week.

Another important issue the board will consider is the normalisation of the airline’s international operations that have been crippled by the 18-day ongoing pilots’ strike because of which the airline has lost Rs.280 crore in revenue.

“We are trying to mitigate losses which now stand at under Rs.10 crore per day. Our bookings in the current contingency plan, under which we are operating clubbed flights to destinations in US and Europe, are full,” said the official.

The airline has also decided to reduce fares by placing a large chunk of seats under the lowest fare category to augment its share in the domestic and international sector.

“We have proposed that a large chunk of seats be under the lowest fare category with the seat factor in consideration. Our bookings are increasing.”

The airline had the fourth largest market share in April at 17.6 percent, preceded by SpiceJet at 17.7, Jet Airways at 21.4 percent and IndiGo at 23.8 percent.