Paris air show to see few Indian orders as budget carriers struggle - analysts

Mumbai: Airlines from India, among the fastest growing by passenger volume in the world, will be wooed by aircraft manufacturers at the Paris Air Show this week but are unlikely to be major buyers as budget carriers struggle to manage costs and move to profitability, analysts said.
India's airlines lost a total of 400 mln usd in the nine months ended December 2006 as high fuel and aircraft purchase costs hit carriers, experts told an aviation conference earlier this year.
But full-service Indian carrier Kingfisher Airlines is expected to place orders as it prepares to expand into budget services in India and fly to international destinations as well, said Amar Kedia, aviation analyst with brokerage Mumbai-based ICICI-Securities.
'Kingfisher could look for Airbus planes, likely jumbo A340-600s, for non-stop connectivity (between India and the US),' said Gautam Roy, airline analyst with brokerage Edelweiss Capital.
The world's biggest civilian aircraft manufacturers, Boeing Co and Airbus, announced new business worth 48 bln usd at the last Paris show in 2005 with India a major buyer.
In 2005, budget carrier Indigo ordered 100 A320 planes from Airbus worth about 6 bln usd while full-service Jet Airways bought 10 A330 airliners for around 1.65 bln usd.
But new orders are not likely by many of the other carriers including state-owned domestic airline Indian and international flag-carrier Air India which have already made purchases since the last show.
More than 50 pct of the fleet in India is made up of Airbus planes, while Boeing commands a 25 pct presence.
17/06/07 XFN-ASIA/Forbes, US

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Categories: Airshow Paris 2007, Foreign Jun 2007