New Delhi: A new 28-acre facility would be created at the Indira Gandhi International Airport for housing the new Boeing 777 wide-bodied aircraft which will be used for ferrying the VVIPs including the President, Vice President, and Prime Minister, for both domestic and international travel.
“The new 28-acre facility is planned to be raised at the IGI airport where the new aircraft with call sign ‘Air Force One’ would be kept and maintained,” government sources told ANI.
The agencies concerned, including the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Indian Air Force, Delhi International Airport Limited and GMR group, are learned to be in talks to set up the state-of-the-art facility.
The new aircraft is being developed in a Boeing facility in the United States of America where it is being fitted with the latest self-protection systems against missile and other attacks, the sources said.
The aircraft would be flown by Indian Air Force pilots who are getting trained in India by Air India which already operates the Boeing 777s in its fleet.
The two planes are expected to arrive in India by the middle of next year to begin the VVIP duties.
Indian Air Force officials have made several visits to the Boeing facility where they get regularly briefed about the facilities being created in the aircraft and the progress made in this regard.
Sources said due to the presence of the sophisticated equipment including missile protection suites and ownership by the Indian Air Force, the planes will have military classification.
In a notification to the Congress this year, the American Defence Security Cooperation Agency said the missile defence system deal worth USD 190 million, would facilitate a more robust capability into areas of increased missile threats. (ANI)
