A dispute between Air India and Boeing over the delivery of the airline's 787 and compensation over the delays appears close to resolution.
India's civil aviation minister Ajit Singh says that the state-owned carrier will receive the first aircraft "shortly" and that it will initially be deployed on domestic routes.
The flag carrier was due to take its first aircraft last week, but this was delayed because of a dispute over the compensation. Air India, which has 27 787s on order, was initially scheduled to receive the first aircraft in September 2008, although that was pushed back because of delays on the 787 programme.
"Air India will begin to receive the first of its 787 aircraft shortly," Singh said in a press conference on 6 June 2012, although he did not say how the dispute was resolved.
In the first six to eight weeks of service, the aircraft will be used predominantly on domestic routes to "enable faster training", said Singh.
The first long-haul service will be Mumbai-London in August 2012 and the airline will deploy the aircraft to Australia in the August-September timeframe, he added.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
