Air India B787-8 deliveries to be delayed

Air India's move to consider converting six remaining B787-8 order slots into larger B787-9s has cost the carrier time in terms of their revised delivery dates.

While the state-backed carrier eventually decided to retain the -8s, time spent in considering the switch has resulted in Air India losing out on its original slots.

"AI's original order was for 787-8 planes," a source told India's Economic Times. "It was planning to switch the remaining orders to B787-9s, but didn't get a board approval. In the meantime, it has lost slots for the original order."

As it now stands, Air India's twenty-second and twenty-third B787-8s will only be delivered during its 2016/17 Financial Year as opposed to the end of the current 2015/16 year which ends on March 31, 2016.

Air India has model substitution rights as per the terms of its 2005 order with Boeing (BOE, Chicago O'Hare) for twenty B787-8s (with seven options).