Paramount to place $2 billion order with Brazil’s Embraer

In what could be one of the biggest orders by an Indian carrier so far this year, regional carrier Paramount Airways Pvt. Ltd will place orders worth up to $2 billion (Rs8,200 crore) for 40 Embraer jets to be delivered in three years starting 2008, according to industry executives familiar with the proposed transaction.
Chennai-based Paramount is likely to used the new planes to expand into the western region of the country in the next year followed by a national footprint by 2011. “We cannot remain a regional player in this market,” a spokesman for the airline said, but declined to confirm details of the purchase.
Paramount managing director M. Thiagarajan will meet on Tuesday Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is in India on a three-day visit.
Paramount, which started its operations in the second half of 2005, flew 2.25 lakh passengers—of the nearly 33 million who flew last year in the country, accounting for a tiny 0.7% of a market divided up by nine carriers.
Paramount currently uses five leased Embraer jets, together with staff, to service eight cities in the south with 52 daily flights. Last year, it ordered 15 jets of which one aircraft is expected to delivered every 45 days for the next one year.
05/06/07 Tarun Shukla/Livemint

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Categories: Foreign Jun 2007, Paramount Airways Jun 2007