Mumbai: Jet Airways (India) Ltd is working hard to fix its debt problems and its efforts could see results in a month’s time, a top Boeing executive said. “A lot of activity is going on at Jet Airways; so I’m sure they will find a way. I am hoping that they resolve the situation in a month’s time or earlier,” said Dinesh Keskar, senior vice president, sales, for Asia Pacific and India at Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
Keskar said Jet has not yet cancelled an order for 10 widebody 787 Dreamliner jets placed more than a decade ago. “Jet Airways (first) ordered Boeing 787-8 aircraft and then converted them into 787-9 aircraft. A lot of stuff needs to be done in advance like seat selections, etc. (for conversion),” Keskar said. Boeing 787-9s offer longer range than 787-8s, allowing an airline offer flights to more distant locations.
“They (Jet Airways) haven’t done anything on the order yet, so we haven’t built the planes for them. But, we expect this to happen in some time,” Keskar said. He said Vistara, which has signed a letter of intent with Boeing for a firm order for six 787-9 aircraft and purchasing rights for four more from the Dreamliner family, could take delivery of its first Boeing widebody plane by 2020.
“They don’t have an option to convert their first six aircraft order (Boeing 787-9) but they can think about converting their remaining four orders,” Keskar said.
He said Boeing’s latest widebody aircraft 777X, currently under production, will be rolled out by the end of this quarter.
“Airlines like Singapore Airlines, Qatar, Etihad and Lufthansa have placed orders for Boeing 777X. Indian airlines like Air India and Jet Airways which have Boeing 777 ER aircraft in their fleet are candidates for buying the new 777X aircraft in future,” Keskar added.