Thaindian News

Hyderabad, March 14 (IANS) The Boeing Co. has an order book of 100 aircraft from India including 37 B-787 Dreamliners and plans to deliver them over four to five years, a top company official said.

Dinesh Keskar, Boeing India president and Senior Vice President (Sales), Asia-Pacific and India, told reporters at India Aviation 2012 here Wednesday that the orders include 43 from Jet Airways, 40 from Air India and 30 from Spicejet.

Boeing, which is showcasing the Dreamliner here, plans to start delivering the aircraft to Air India in April-June. The state carrier has placed orders for 27 of these aircraft. Three Boeing 777s.

Keskar said delivery of 10 B-787s to Jet Airways would only start in 2014. The private airline has also ordered 43 Boeing 737s. Spicejet will receive 30 Boeing-737s in the next four to five years.

He was confident that Dreamliner, with its fuel efficiency, long distance capability with mid-size capacity and higher cargo carrying capacity would turn around Air India.

Keskar did not agree that the financial problems faced by Boeing’s Indian customers would impact on the deliveries. “We have been prudent. We have been only selling to Air India, Jet Airways and Spicejet. We are making sure they have business plans and everything that make sense to us,” he said.

He also made it clear that Boeing would continue to build aircraft for these airlines, irrespective of the finance model they chose.

He said that out of 33,500 aircraft worth $4 trillion the world requires in next 20 years, India would account for 1,320 aircraft worth $150 billion dollars. About 80 percent of them will be B-777 and Airbus A-320-type aircraft.