Tata Group-controlled Air India is looking to set up a mega engineering warehouse in Mumbai to bring nearly 40 separate storage locations under one roof.
The former flag carrier on Friday inaugurated one such warehouse adjacent to Delhi IGI airport, consolidating around 16 sub-scale and scattered locations into a single facility.
This 53,765 sq. ft centralised warehouse is temperature and humidity controlled to ensure optimal conditions for sensitive aviation material and has the capacity to stock over a million spares in a smart, secure location adjacent to its main hub.
“This world-class facility is the first of its kind for any airline in India and is key to supporting our growing fleet and enabling the operational reliability we must achieve,” Campbell Wilson, MD and CEO, Air India, said to the company’s employees.
This week, the first of several planes of AirAsia India was transferred to Air India Express after completing DGCA’s detailed five-phase CAP3100 process. An A320 joined the Air India Express fleet as the exercise is part of Air India’s plans of integrating the two airlines to form one low-cost carrier (LCC).
“This transfer will be progressively followed by all other aircraft, so that, eventually, our two LCCs become one and we have full flexibility to deploy aircraft in the most optimal and efficient manner across our low-cost network,” Wilson added.
Likewise, following the standardisation of EFBs (electronic flight bag) and introduction of DocuNet, Air India introduced Airport Briefing, which is another tech tool that will enhance situational awareness of its pilots.
“Airport Briefing allows pilots to use their iPad EFB device to develop an accurate picture of the operating conditions of airports in the network, preparing them to handle unexpected situations and thereby mitigate risks,” Wilson added.