Air India Express to raise fleet to 25

Hyderabad: Air India Express (AIE), the wholly owned subsidiary of National Aviation Company (formed by merging Air India and Indian Airlines), will be inducting seven Boeing 737-800s to its fleet of 18 aircraft. While three of these will be added in this calendar year, the remaining will join in 2009, said AIE Chief Operating Officer P P Singh.
Each aircraft will cost about $50 million and the purchase is being funded by the US-based Exim Bank. The airline operates 143 flights a week from Indian cities to 12 destinations in the Far East and West Asian countries.
In its fourth year of operation, the international budget carrier now has 11 fully owned aircraft, while seven are on lease, which will expire in 2010.
Singh said they were facing a shortage of pilots and were, therefore, going slow on expansion. It currently employs 80 pilots, including 58 ‘imported' captains. "There is about 20 per cent shortage (of pilots),'' Singh said.
However, he felt the situation would ease in about three years and added that the attrition rate was stable.
05/06/08 Business Standard

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Categories: Air India Budget Jun 2008, NACIL Jun 2008