印航與長榮航空的聯營BOM-SFO/LAX申請拖延多時至今未有下文.
現在如以前所述, 印航機隊築步到位後就開始可以不靠別人自己飛了‧
那天印航開闢經台北到美西or溫哥華by 773ER其實也不無可能.
當然應該還是會與長榮持續合作啦--個人認為.
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Air India extends its reach with world’s longest-range jet
By Gregory Polek
February 20, 2008
Aircraft
The meteoric development of India’s airline industry continues unabated as
Air India extends its nonstop network to all corners of the globe with Boeing
’s longest-range airliner. On February 8, Air India placed its fourth
777-200LR on a new direct route between Delhi and New York JFK Airport, and
expected the imminent arrival of airplane No. 5 as we approached the start of
this year’s Singapore show.
The world’s first 777-200LR fitted with an auxiliary fuel tank, Air India’s
latest piece of long-range equipment carries 238 passengers–eight in first
class, 35 in business class and 195 in economy–on the 6,350-nm route to New
York.
Later this year Air India plans to use the twinjet on a new direct route
between Bangalore and San Francisco.
Air India calls such direct services between two of the world’s most
important information technology centers revolutionary. Unfortunately for the
flagcarrier, direct flights between India and the U.S. also exacerbate a
shortage of flight commanders as India’s training pipeline struggles to
accommodate a 35-percent annual growth rate in the domestic airline business
alone.
Crew-rest regulations mandate four pilots on such long legs as Delhi-New
York, raising the question of whether Air India, for one, can afford to spare
two more pilots on a service that needs only two for each leg when connecting
through London with a 777-300ER, another airplane type new to the AI fleet.
But despite reports in the Indian press that Air India had delayed 200LR
deliveries to conserve its flight crew resources for the 300ER introductions,
Air India had taken all four of the 200LRs scheduled for delivery last year
basically on time. It now flies its first two 200LRs on a direct route
between Mumbai and New York, and the second pair on the Delhi-New York
service.
“The [fourth] airplane was scheduled to deliver originally on [December]
29th or something like that and we ended up doing it on the 31st,” said
Boeing vice president of sales Dinesh Keshar, who nevertheless acknowledged
the severity of India’s flight commander shortage.
While fellow 777-300ER operator Jet Airways has “managed very well” flying
to New York via Brussels, according to Keshar, Air India makes do with
minimal pilot reserves, in part because of the need for a double cockpit crew
on its direct New York services.
Training Priorities
Although it appealed to no avail for permission to operate the direct flights
to the U.S. with only three pilots, Air India knew it would need to put in
place more training capacity not long after it took its first 777 last July.
Unfortunately, forethought didn’t translate into action as quickly as one
would have expected. “Fortunately they know when their deliveries are and–
with that in mind and having learned that unless it hits you it doesn’t
happen kind of thing–now they’re kind of getting ready to make sure history
doesn’t repeat itself,” Keshar told AIN.
Boeing’s Alteon training subsidiary had already done its part to ease the
crunch by placing a 737-800 simulator in Mumbai for Air India Express, which,
according to Keshar “has never had an issue with 737 pilots.” Still, even
among India’s 737 fleets, the captains’ ranks consist of a disproportionate
number of expatriates lured to India with increasingly good pay, low cost of
living and the prospect of operating brand-new airplanes such as the first
pair of 737-900ERs now flying for SpiceJet.
Pilots qualified to command a 777 don’t come quite as easily, however, and
the recent decision by regulators in the U.S.
to raise the mandatory retirement age for airline pilots from 60 to 65 will
not help matters, as a modest but reliable supply of American pilots in their
early 60s consequently withers.
Meanwhile, the entire Asian region, Australia and, of course, the U.S. and
Europe all compete with India for a finite number of pilots.
In the long run, the only sustainable solution for Air India and the rest of
India’s airline business lies with training its own population, a process
that takes a lot of time and expense. “Certainly there is a good pipeline of
copilots,” said Keshar.
“In fact I was told there are up to 2,000 Indians with CPLs waiting to go
into the right seat. But I have seen people who are as young as 29, 30 who
are now captains.”
Originally scheduled to take delivery of a 777 simulator from Alteon in
November, Air India has delayed delivery until “later this year,” by which
time it will have taken five 777-200LRs. It also plans to take two more
777-300ERs in April and May, giving it a total of five of those.
Next year’s schedules show delivery of the final three 200LRs along with
four 300ERs. Boeing expects to deliver the remaining ten 300ERs by August
2009. Meanwhile, Air India also holds firm delivery positions on 27 Boeing
787s and six more 737-800s, of which it now flies 25.
http://tinyurl.com/2zoc9q
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※ 編輯: nyrnu 來自: 82.3.224.225 (02/20 00:35)