Air India One, a highly secured VVIP aircraft modelled on US President’s aircraft ‘Air Force One’, is all set to arrive at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport in a couple of hours. The plane that took off from Texas today comes with an impregnable audio and video communications system that can function mid-air. Air India One will be used to fly the President of India, Vice President and the Prime Minister.
“The first of the two Boeing jets will land in New Delhi at 3.00pm on Thursday,” a top aviation ministry official said.
The delivery of the aircraft was delayed by more than a month due to “operational issues”, officials said.
“The delivery of the aircraft was scheduled for August 25 but has been delayed due to certain operational issues. It took a few weeks’ time to deliver,” another senior government official said, requesting anonymity.
The Centre had sent a team of senior officials from the Indian Air Force and Air India for escorting the aircraft back to India and assessing the technical requirements, a second official said.
Air India had sent a pair of Boeing 777 aircraft to a Boeing facility in Dallas to be refurbished for VVIP travel.
The government has planned to procure two such specially modified Boeing-777 aircraft, capable of countering missile threats with their own missile defence system, called the Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM) and Self-Protection Suites (SPS).