In the course of the 83rd meeting of the Board of Directors of Air-India held on 18th September, 2002, the proposal regarding acquisition/replacement of fleet of Air-India was discussed at length.  The report of the Expert Committee as well as the Board Sub-Committee which took an overview of recommendations of the Expert Committee were deliberated upon and it was inter-alia decided that :

1. Board of Directors endorsed the international route pattern proposed by the Expert Committee for inducting Long Range aircraft;

2. The recommendations of the Expert Committee regarding the number of aircraft of the Long Range capacity was also endorsed by the Board.  The Board approved a seating capacity of 250 plus seats in 3 class configuration for Long Range aircraft.  The Board also decided that while short-listing the Long Range aircraft, the capacity of such aircraft for non-stop India-US operations -  for at least 50 per cent of the proposed induction of long haul fleet in the 250 plus seat capacity be examined.

3. It was felt that Air-India should also evaluate requirement of large capacity Long Range aircraft of 400 plus seats.

4. A Committee headed by the Director of Operations was constituted to evolve the ground rules of induction of Long Range aircraft and recommend the aircraft type required to be inducted in Air-India`s fleet as per above requirements.  The Technical Committee has also been assigned the task of finalising Air-India`s Short Haul aircraft requirement of aircraft having 160 plus seats in 2 class configuration for international operations.

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