New Delhi, Nov 08: The Air India board today gave its nod to acquire 28 new aircraft as part of fleet expansion and the acquisition at a cost of about Rs 10,000 crore. As per the plan, approved by the board, chaired by Civil Aviation Secretary and chairman K Roy Paul, Air India would acquire 10 long range and 18 short range aircraft, AI`s director public relations Jeetendra Bhargava told reporters after the meeting here.

The long range aircraft are airbus 340 while the 18 others are Boeing 737-800, he said adding that new craft would be powered by CFM engines.

The corporation would send its fleet acquisition plan, approved after consideration of the report of the in-house techno-economic negotiating committee headed by its director operations Capt N K Hathi by the full board, to Ministry of Civil Aviation. The new aircraft would be acquired over a period of five year and would replace the 14 existing ones that the corporation has taken on dry lease. These include eleven airbus 310 and three Boeing 747-200.

The board also decided to extend its ongoing VRS from non-operational staffers to those in operational areas (including pilots and engineers), Bhargava, who also holds the charge of HRD, said.

AI has a total strength of 15,650 employees including about 6000 in the operational area, and the existing VRS has been accepted by 250 staffers since February 2003.

Bureau Report