Air India utilising 21 of 27 787s: report

Air India is reportedly under utilising its flagship Boeing 787 fleet, due to flight crew shortage as well as technical issues with only 21 aircraft being deployed for operations on a daily basis out of its 27 aircraft fleet (PTI, 12-Sep-2018). Three of the aircraft reportedly are grounded awaiting spares, with three being deployed on a rotational basis. "Almost 23 per cent of the Air India fleet is grounded for lack of spares. To put this into perspective, aircraft worth approximately USD3.6 billion or approximately INR25,000 crore are lying idle in the hangars", the Indian Commercial Plots Association (ICPA) had alleged in a letter to airline chairman and managing director Pradeep Singh Kharola. Air India had, however, termed the grounding of planes for maintenance a common practice.