Indian Airlines has re-entered the market for dry leasing up to 12 wide body aircraft.
The airline, which is to choose from the Airbus A-330, A-340 and A-310-300 apart from the Boeing 767 Extended Range and Boeing 777, hopes to induct the aircraft between February next year and January 2008.
Sources indicated that the airline has been forced to enter the market again as the earlier tender floated by it did not receive a good response.
While some vendors withdrew their aircraft even before the tender validity expired, others were keen to complete the process within a very short time forcing both the parties to call off the negotiations.
The airline, which plans to lease the aircraft for between five and seven years, is looking to offer electrical connection to its business class passengers and is examining the option of offering these in economy class also so that they could use their personal computers during the flight. Besides, the airline has indicated a desire of having provision not only for a fax and sky phones, but also a Net-based linkage.
(IA is going ahead with its plans for live TV in its new Airbus fleet.)
The induction of the aircraft could see the airline look at the option of operating flights to the UK, US, Canada and Australia.
Operating flights
The Government has designated IA to operate flights to Australia and the US. Besides, the airline has received permission to commence operations to the UK.
However, it does not have the equipment as yet to start services to these countries for which it plans to lease wide-body aircraft. The airline could also use these aircraft to operate flights on some high-density domestic routes.
What about the merger with AI? This is getting to be very amusing. Each airline has started talking about its own plans. Which only makes one suspect that it must be just to boost the IPO.
Main details from an IA source are. The source also indicates that Airbus is in contact with IA.
Aircraft should have two-class configuration with the seat pitch in Business to be 50".
Cabin baggage storage 1.5 pieces per passenger. One toilet for every 40 - 45 passengers in economy class and one toilet for every 15 - 20 passengers in business class. Some of the toilets in economy class should be located in forward section of cabin. Multi channel (11 - 14 channels) audio/video equipment with Flight Path Display should be available with individual head phones, audio/video controls located on armrest of seats and preferably individual monitor for each seat at least in Business class.
The aircraft should have ventilated cargo compartments with temperature control to carry livestock.
Aircraft should be fitted with
Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System; cockpit door surveillance system (Anti Hijack Camera Monitoring).
Facilities for amenity kits, headphones, give-aways/children's toys/over night kits, blankets and pillows, duty free items on sale, wine chiller.
Keeping in view the current IA fleet of A-320s, the best bet would be either the A-330 or the A-340 depending on what routes IA plans to use its widebodies.
IA should not even consider the A310 as these are old aircraft and therefore maintenance intensive.
It would be nice to see IA colors on a modern widebody though!
A310 is not available anymore but yes in the 'Indian' colour scheme the A340s wud cool classy and hot
boeing aircrafts are doubtful as IC will have trouble training these new engineers again at higher costs but due to A320 family A330 and A340 commonality IC may opt for Airbus only
lets hops all goes fine and IC gets the fleet.
quoting their security let me tell IC even flies air marshalls and cockpit doors are bullet-proof that can be only opened by locking code and even cameras are fitted which the pilot can monitor if he wishes (only first class and galleys)
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Light travels faster than sound...thats why people appear bright, until you hear them talk!
quoting their security let me tell IC even flies air marshalls and cockpit doors are bullet-proof that can be only opened by locking code and even cameras are fitted which the pilot can monitor if he wishes (only first class and galleys)
After 43 aircrafts being bought from Airbus for USD 2 billion, public sector carrier Indian is leasing 16 aircrafts to compete more aggressively in the booming aviation market.
Of the 16 aircraft being leased, 12 are wide-bodied aircraft which could help in substantial additional capacity.
Indian has already received four bids for dry lease of wide-bodied aircraft. The airline is also working out plans for short-term lease of four Airbus A320 aircraft.
Indian now deploys only 36 aircraft as many planes are undergoing maintenance. The fleet utilisation will be increased by one aircraft per month to 42 aircraft by January.
Deploying more aircraft will help Indian in competing on a strong footing with private sector rivals. New generation carriers like Air Deccan, SpiceJet and Kingfisher are expanding aggressively, banking on the strength of the booming market, while IndiGo is expected to launch operations next month.
A340 is under consideration, says a source in IA as IA and Airbus are in contact.
What else is being considered?
I should think it makes sense in the case of IA to stick to Airbus. Unless IA is planning 777 leases and then depend on AI. That too makes sense with talk of merger.
Yet again... This is not happening. Too many seats already in the air going unfilled. LCC model is not what IA has in mind. AIExpress is chewing gluf and 9w & S2 on Far East, Kabul and Almaty don't have the load factors that justify a wide body.
Dr. Viswapathi Trivedi, IA MD has clearly stated that the move to rasie Flight crew salaries and having them agree to a fourth landing was with this in mind. So IA may head Down Under, and quite a few points in Europe.
but why is indian planning to launch long haul flights? air india is dedicted to the international and indian should also remain with their domestic routes. it would not create any competition between them.
but why is indian planning to launch long haul flights? air india is dedicted to the international and indian should also remain with their domestic routes. it would not create any competition between them.
Had i been the prime minister wud have made u aviation minister
Thats why the govt wants to merge both the carriers. Initially when AI and IC were started they had different objectives like AI for intl and IC for regional but as time passed even IC started demanding intl flights which according to the would not harm AIs flights...
Though everyone knows that they will be competing each other each management wants intl because it is more profitable in intl routes.
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Light travels faster than sound...thats why people appear bright, until you hear them talk!
DUBAI — Indian, the state-run carrier, which is preparing for a merger with Air India by April 2007 to create one of Asia's largest carriers, has floated a second global tender to lease 12 wide-bodied and four narrow-bodied aircraft to boost its domestic and international operations.
The recently re-branded airline, which starts taking delivery of 43 Airbus 320 aircraft worth $2 billion from October, believes the dry lease route will help it with faster expansion. Of the 16 aircraft being leased, 12 are wide-bodied aircraft which could help in substantial additional capacity.
According to Deepak Brara, director, Public Relations of Indian, the carrier's immediate goal is to expand capacity in all existing routes rather than flying to new destinations.
In Dubai, on his way back from Toulouse to review the state-of-the-art on-flight entertainment system to be installed in the new fleet of Airbus A320, Brara said Indian would expand its overseas network to long-haul destinations like South Asia, Australia and China by February.
Pankaj Srivastava, Regional Manger of the carrier, said Indian, which launched UAE flights in 1992 with three flights per week, now operates 75 flights per week from UAE to various points in India, and has doubled its flights from Dubai International Airport to 35 and with the proposed introduction of second daily flight from Dubai to Delhi in the winter schedule, its frequency on India UAE sector will increase by seven. It now has daily services to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Calicut and Jaipur. Of these, all destinations, except Jaipur, are non-stop. All flights are operating with Airbus A320 aircraft offering 125 seats in Economy and 20 seats in Business class.
Brara said following the hike in aviation turbine fuel, thanks to the two surcharges it has levied, the airline was able to recover most of the increased fuel bill.
Brara said the Indian aviation scene has been buoyant for the past few years with an average 25 per cent growth on domestic sectors and 15-20 per cent on international routes. "This year, domestic traffic is set to grow by 50 per cent."
Experts maintain the resurgence of the Indian air travel industry has been the result of active liberalisation by the government to permit the entry of low cost carriers including Air Deccan, Kingfisher, Go Air, IndiGo and Spice Jet.
According to analysts, the government is expected to approve the merger to create a major airline with 125-130 aircraft. The two airlines, which face growing competition from private carriers, are already trying to synergise their operations. Both airlines are due to launch initial public offerings (IPOs) and the merger decision could be implemented at the same time as the IPOs.
According to Indian Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, there is no proposal currently to allow foreign airlines to buy stakes in Indian carriers. The mandate for the merger, which would potentially create a global scale airline, would be one of the largest mandates in recent times. The valuation of the combined entity is estimated to be at around $5 billion to $7 billion.