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Sunday, 1 March 2015

65 ‘uncommon’ parts ground leased AI plane

Mumbai: Air India has done it again. Attempting to replace 21 ageing Airbus A320s in its fleet, the national career recently hired five similar planes from a Chinese leasing firm. But when the first plane arrived 20 days ago, officials found that 65 of its components are incompatible with its existing fleet and that it does not have either the spares or the know-how to maintain the plane.

 As a result, the plane, hired from China Aircraft Leasing Company at a cost of $300,000 a month, was lying unused in Mumbai, imposing on the airline a straight loss of $11,000 every day. Worse, this delay was caused because Air India's trimmers (a person who maintains aircraft cabins and interiors) had to be trained to work on the plane as the interiors were radically different from Air India's. Documents show the uncommon parts include ovens, AC vents and on-board communication units, among others. 
26/02/15 Aditya Anand/Mumbai Mirror

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