Induction of the much-awaited Boeing 787 Dreamliner by Air India is still hanging fire as the Law Ministry gives final touches to a compensation agreement which the airline would sign with the US plane maker for delaying deliveries.
The induction of the plane, which can enable Air India mount several new international flights, would take place only after the Delay Compensation Settlement Agreement, already approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, is fine-tuned by the Law Ministry, official sources said.
Another factor which has led to the delay in the national carrier accepting the plane was a probe report by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) into a July 28 incident in which debris fell off a B-787’s engine during a pre-flight test at the Charleston Airport in South Carolina.
The investigation has “determined that a fan mid-shaft on the failed GEnx engine fractured at the forward end of the shaft,” an NTSB statement said.
Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has also sought a report from its American counterpart, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), on the incident which is still awaited, the sources said.
Industry sources said Air India, the second to place orders for 27 B-787s, was yet to receive the aircraft even as two Japanese carriers, All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines, have started flying them.
The latest airline to get these long-haul planes is Ethiopian Airlines, which received the first one at Addis Ababa’s Bole international airport four days ago. It would use the aircraft on its Addis Ababa-Washington Dulles flight.