Air India's adrenaline rush!

Air India has said that it has leased six Boeing-777-300 ER widebody jets to augment its existing fleet, expected to be inducted in the first half of this year on long-haul international routes.

This was the second announcement by Air India in 2022 on aircraft leasing. Earlier in 2022, it leased 30 aircraft including 21 Airbus A320, four Airbus A321 and five Boeing B777-200LR widebody jets.

The Boeing B777-300 ER will be deployed to connect Indian metropolitan cities with more international destinations. Air India will offer premium economy- a first by the airline, on the Boeing-777-300 ERs besides the regular first, business and economy-class configurations. Under the airline's expansion plans, 19 long-grounded aircraft have already returned to the skies with nine more to follow soon, despite of the fact of the airline having stepped up leasing of narrowbody and widebody planes.

Meanwhile, Air India's budget airline subsidiary- Air India Express is looking to lease two Boeing-737 planes from full-service carrier Vistara to offer more flights during the winter schedule. Both Air India Express and Vistara are part of the Tata group, which also has Air India and AirAsia India under its wings. Two narrowbody jets are expected to be inducted into the Air India Express fleet on a short-term lease. The move is part of consolidating as well as tapping the synergies in the group's airline business. Also, the leasing of the planes will help Air India Express to operate more flights during the winter schedule, which began on October 30.