The Indian government will significantly increase the compensation it pays to Air India (AI, Delhi International) for the maintenance of B747-400s used as VIP transports for the President, the Prime Minister, and other high ranking politicians.
The flag carrier currently receives INR3.36 billion rupees (USD48.33 million) per fiscal year to maintain the Boeing quadjets. The amount has been kept unchanged since 2011, despite the constant growth in the costs of the maintenance of the ageing aircraft.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said in the Lok Sabha, the Indian Parliament, that as of the current fiscal year, the compensation will be raised to INR5.34 billion rupees (USD76.78 million) plus applicable taxes. The amount will also be raised by 10% every fiscal year to account for growing expenditures.
The compensation does not include the salaries of crew, operational costs, and insurance.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, Air India currently owns four B747-400s, of which two are 24-year-old machines and the other two are 21 years old. The aircraft are not dedicated to government transport and are used on normal commercial operations on a day-to-day basis.
By 2020, India's government intends to replace the B747-400s with two B777-300(ER)s owned by Air India, but used exclusively for VIP transport.
