Mumbai: Having received flak for deciding to sell five of its seven year-old Boeing 777-200 Long Range (LR) aircraft to Etihad Airways at a “loss”, Air India (AI) has defended its move by saying that it would result in an annual saving of $100 million.
“The company will pay all the loans outstanding against these aircraft, which will reduce the interest and loan liability by $60 million a year besides $40 million by savings a year by way of maintenance costs.
The move will also discharge the Government guarantee given on these loans,” said a senior AI official, who did not wish to be identified .
Air India has agreed to sell these five aircraft from its fleet of eight Boeing 777-200 LRs for approximately $350 million, which works out to be $70 million per aircraft.
According to the official, the acquisition cost of these aircraft in 2007 was approximately $115 million to $120 million per aircraft.
Read News In full 01/01/14 Lalatendu Mishra/The Hindu
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