New Delhi: As many as 14 global aircraft lessors have evinced interest in leasing planes to Air India, which seeks to replace its ageing narrow-body fleet with new fuel efficient planes. The state-run carrier would induct 19 new Airbus 320 neo/ceo planes in the fleet by March 2018 on an up to 12-year dry lease as part of this plan. Of these 19, five are being leased from independent Chinese lessor China Aircraft Leasi-ng Company, which has already delivered the first sharklets-equipped A320ceo plane last week, Air India sources said.
The remaining four will be inducted in the fleet by October. “We have received proposals from 14 companies in response to our invitation for bids for dry leasing of the remaining 14 planes. These firms, which are from the US, UK, Europe and Singapore, have offered us to lease up to 48 planes,” they said. These proposals are being evaluated, sources said, adding, AI was “open” to lease more aircraft. A dry lease comes without insurance, crew, ground staff, supporting equipment or maintenance. Lessors generally charge an airline between 0.85 to one percent of the aircraft’s list price as rental per month.
AI reports strong performance in Jan 2015
An over 16 percent growth in its passenger traffic helped national carrier Air India improve its ticket revenue by 8.4 percent, which stood at `1,500 crore in January over the period last year, an airline official said on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the carrier has also lined up sumptuous Indian cuisines, named after popular cricketers, to cater to its passengers on its flights to Australia for ICC World Cup there. Air India has clocked a higher seat factor on its both national and domestic network during this period as well, the official said.
After a long spell of losses, the national airline had returned to profitability in December 2014 with a net profit of `14.6 crore in the month as against a loss of `168.7 crore in December 2013, driven by a healthy growth in both passenger and cargo revenue.
Saddled with a massive `40,000 crore debt and combined losses of `36,000 crore till last fiscal, the airline is surviving on a government bailout package, announced earlier. “The airline registered major gains in January in terms of operational performance as compared to the same period in 2014. We on an average carried 16.7 percent more passenger per day as 51,829 passengers on average boarded our flights, 44,420 passengers in January 2014,” the official said.
“This resulted in an 8.4 percent increase in the passenger revenue to `1,500 crore during the reporting month from `1,384 crore in January 2014.”
Air India’s current fleet
60 narrow-body planes (A319s/320s/321s)
40 wide-body planes, 4 CRJs, 4 ATRs
19 new Airbus 320 neo/ceo planes to be inducted by 2018 on an up to 12-year dry lease
5 from China Aircraft Leasing Company
Bids for remaining 14 planes received
14 global aircraft lessors evince interest in leasing planes to Air India
Firms from United States, United Kingdom, Europe and Singapore have offered to lease up to 48 planes
AIRBUS 320 CEO Price: $97 million 180 seats
AIRBUS 320 NEO Price: $106.02 million 236 seats
