As many as 15 narrow-body aircraft of Air India Ltd are on ground due to lack of spare engines but the airline hopes to put these back into service by December driving on expectations of a constant flow of funds, a senior government official told CNBC-TV18.

"Less than 10 percent of our fleet... about 15 A320s are on ground but the cash situation is improving and these should be back into operations by December," the official said on the condition of anonymity.

The planes will be used for strengthening the domestic network and for short overseas routes, the official added.

The grounded planes result in a substantial loss of revenue for the carrier due to the idle capacity and flight cancellations.

The airline has a total of 163 aircraft in its fleet, including 76 narrow-body planes, according to the company website.

In September, the PTI reported that the debt-laden Air India had grounded as many as 19 aircraft, including nine Airbus A321, due to wanting of spares. The carrier had then said a day later, that the aircraft grounding for maintenance was a common practice.

Air India, which has a debt burden of over Rs 50,000 crore, recently received Rs 1,000 crore from the National Small Savings Fund and expects to raise Rs 500 crore through short-term borrowings.

Marathon Meeting

A six-hour long "marathon meeting" of Air India's board took place last week and deliberations happened on improving the operational and financial performance of the airline.

However, the details of the decisions taken during the meeting could not be ascertained.

First Published:Oct 23, 2018 10:24 PM IST