A custom-made B777 aircraft, which will be used to fly the President, Vice President and Prime Minister, arrived in Delhi from the US on October 1, reported PTI. The plane was scheduled to be delivered by aircraft manufacturer Boeing to Air India in July but its delivery was delayed twice - once in July for a few weeks due to COVID-19 pandemic and then in August for a few weeks due to technical reasons. Air India One, which is the call sign of the aircraft, landed at the Delhi airport from Texas at around 3 pm on October 1. Senior officials of the national carrier had reached the US during the first half of August to receive the plane from Boeing, the officials told PTI. Another custom-made B777 plane for the travel of VVIPs is likely to be received from Boeing during a later date, they noted. These two aircraft were part of Air India's commercial fleet for a few months in 2018 before they were sent back to Boeing for retrofitting them for VVIP travel. Officials said the total cost of purchase and retrofitting the two planes has been estimated to be around ₹ 8,400 crore. B777 planes will have state-of-the-art missile defence systems called Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM) and Self-Protection Suites (SPS).
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