President Ram Nath Kovind boarded the Air India One-B777 aircraft today for its inaugural flight to Chennai, according to a Rashtrapati Bhavan statement. President Kovind is visiting Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh to offer prayers at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple.
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"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 a longer range than the B747-400 that are deployed for similar VVIP operations," the statement said.
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The aircraft has state-of-the-art interiors with reduced noise levels, it added. Air India One is the call sign for the VVIP aircraft used by the President, Vice President and Prime Minister.
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On the occasion of the inaugural flight of Air India One-B777, Kovind commended the pilots, crew members and the entire team of the Air India and the Indian Air Force for operating the state-of-the-art aircraft and facilitating VVIP movements within the country and on state visits abroad, the statement said.
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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. The 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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