US aircraft manufacturer Boeing said on Friday that it would concentrate on clinching the Air-India deal of 17 aircraft and was willing to have a dialogue with the government on the Indian Airlines' proposal to acquire 43 aircraft.
Though the domestic carrier has already decided to acquire all the 43 aircraft from European manufacturer Airbus, "we are willing to work, willing to have a dialogue with IA and the government should they desire," Boeing's president (aircraft trading) Dinesh Keskar told reporters in New Delhi.
Air-India, on the other hand, has decided to acquire 17 aircraft from Boeing and evaluate Boeing 777-200 ER (extended range) and Airbus' A 340-300s for non-stop operations to
Europe, Africa, East Asia and Australia.
Keskar claimed the B 777-200 ER planes were perfect for AI's non-stop services to these destinations, while B 777-200 LR (long range) would be most suited for non-stop service between any station in India to anywhere in the US.
Claiming that A 340-300s did not have the capacity to fly non-stop on such distances, the Boeing official said the 777-200s, with full flat-beds in the upper classes, would have the capacity to carry 270 passengers.
Keskar said Pakistan had already placed orders for a total of eight Boeing aircraft, comprising 777-200 ERs, 777-200 LRs and 777-300 ERs. The deliveries would start in
2003-04 and continue till 2007-08.
He said the entire fleets of Alliance Air, Jet Airways, Air Sahara and Blue Dart freighter service, besides 65 per cent of Air-India's fleet, comprised of Boeing aircraft.
Indian Airlines currently operated an Airbus fleet.
Referring to these carriers and the growth in passenger traffic, he said India was projected to add large numbers of single-aisle jets like 737s, which were being operated by these airlines and freighter Blue Dart.
Stating that India would record an overall traffic growth of about seven per cent annually over the next two decades, he said India would require 290 new jet aircraft worth $22 billion in the same period, of which three-fourths would be smaller ones of the B 737 size and the rest 777s and 747s.
The Boeing official said the estimates show that traffic increases within the Southwest Asian region would be the highest at 8.7 per cent average.
