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President Ram Nath Kovind boarded the Air India One-B777 aircraft on Tuesday for its inaugural flight to Chennai, according to a Rashtrapati Bhavan statement. Kovind is visiting Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh to offer prayers at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple, it said.

"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.

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.

The 2 aircrafts were equipped for over Rs. 8000 crores and were build in the US just like the famous 'Air Force One' of the US President. The US State Department has approved the 'foreign military sale' of two B777 LAIRCM SPS.