Air India to phase out classic A320s by December

The airline had in April 2014 announced its plans to retire all 14 single-aisle double-bogey wheel planes from its fleet in a phased manner after it decided to induct more fuel-efficient Airbus A320 neo planes into operations.

AI has already removed 11 classic A320 planes out of operations and the remaining three such aircraft will be going out of the fleet by December this year, a senior company official said. The official said that though these planes are still flying, but they are carrying out limited operations.

Earlier, the carrier had planned to retire these planes by March this year. The Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) – one of Air India’s pilots’ bodies - had in 2015 termed these aged planes as “lethal and snag-prone” and demanded their grounding.