Prez Kovind boards Air India One aircraft for inaugural flight to Chennai

New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday (November 24) boarded the Air India One – B777 aircraft for inaugural flight to Chennai. President Kovind boarded Air India One to visit Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh to offer prayers at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple.

This is the first flight of the Air India One–B777 aircraft with the Head of State on board. The aircraft is fuel efficient and has longer range than the B747-400 that are deployed for similar VVIP operations. The aircraft has state-of-art interiors with reduced noise levels.

On the occasion of inaugural flight of Air India One–B777, President Kovind commended pilots, crew members and the entire team of the Air India and the Indian Air Force for operating the state-of-the-art aircrafts and facilitating VVIP movements within India and on state visits abroad.

Air India One-B777 aircraft will be used to fly the President, Vice President and the Prime Minister. It arrived from the US in India on October 1. Air India One is call sign of the aircraft.

The B777 planes has state-of-the-art missile defence systems called Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM) and Self-Protection Suites (SPS).